


A Boy and His Wolf

by surprisedreader



Series: Of wolves and witches [1]
Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Falling In Love, M/M, Supernatural Elements, Were-Creatures, Werewolves, Witches, werewolf!Tyler Seguin, witch!Jamie Benn, witch!Jordie Benn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-07
Updated: 2016-01-22
Packaged: 2018-04-25 08:36:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4953598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surprisedreader/pseuds/surprisedreader
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler gets traded to the Stars and the young wolf is just miserable most of the time. Jamie, in his awkward well meaning way makes it his mission to make Tyler happy again. Even if that means using a little bit of magic along the way. A story of witches, weres, and works in progress.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

By the time he reached the Stars roster he already felt infinitely old. Hid bones ached unpleasantly half the month, and his skin never felt like it fit quite right. He missed Boston like a limb. It had been his home. His sanctuary. If he couldn't spend the year with his Alpha the least he could do was be safe and sound on his ground with his team, his people.  
Not any more.  
Jamie Benn was the one sweet spot among the near constant annoyance he felt since learning he was moving.  
The young captain and his brother had come to the airport to get him the first day. He had been cranky and tired. He wanted to curl up in a nest of blanckets and to call his Alpha more than anything. But he didn't want to be a bother he just shoved his hands harder into his pockets and walked with his shoulders hunched to discourage conversation.  
"Oh..." Jamie had said softly when they met. "Oh." He repeated softer still looking Tyler over with big doe eyes making him shift uncomfortably. Neither man smelled like kin. All wolves had a 'smell' to them, like distant rain, which would have explained the look at least. Neither Jamie or his brother even carried the faintest hint of rain through. He wondered if he really just looked that tired.  
Jamie and Jordie smelled like hockey, they all had that faint ice smell but they also smelled like herbs and static. The herbs Tyler couldn't name but smelled calming. The static was strange as well, he hadn't ever smelled the combination before. He wanted to press in closer to the two men. The recycled air on the plane had given him a headache and the subtle hints of whatever they both had on them was like a puzzle. A calming puzzle that would take his mind off how badly his back was aching and how much he wanted to turn around and grovel to the Bruins to take him back. He would be good if they just let him come home.  
He firmly had not pressed any closer to either Benn.  
The captain's brother gave his shorter sibling a nudge seeming to break him of whatever epiphany he was having and Jamie gave him a shy smile. "I'm Jamie this is Jordie. We're the Benns...uh welcome to Dallas."  
Tyler summoned up a small but genuine smile and nodded his thanks.   
Jamie had waved him off like it wasn't a big deal and Jordie somehow smoothly took his bag from him without setting his hackles rising. They walked to the truck they had come in and Jamie looked down right nervous as he practically wrung his hands while offering to take Tyler around the city right then.  
"Uh-" he cut in feeling kind of like a prick. Jamie was just trying to be nice to him. "I appreciate the offer but uh...do you think you can just take me to where I'm staying?  I'm just...tired."  
Jamie had turned in his seat looking kind of confused but nodding all the same.  
"You live in the same apartment building as us." Jordie had spoken up, voice deep. That soothing feeling came back. "Come over and have dinner with us."  
Tyler hesitated. All he wanted to do was get to his new place, lock himself in, curl up under a mound of blankets and cry. In wolf culture, his Alpha explianed once, if another alpha offered you a meal you didn't reject it. That was food they could have given their own pack and they were offering it to you. To deny their hospitality was to damage any further communication with that pack. He wondered if the same applied to new team captains and their brothers.  
"Sure." He muttered.  
The brothers had taken him to his apartment before he was ushered down to theirs. The herb smell had been stronger there. Jamie brought Tyler an blanket while they sat and watched tv. It was heavy and thick and smelled like Jamie. Jordie brought him a cup and told him to drink it.  He blinked at the cup on confusion, Jordie didn't seem like the tea type but who was he to judge. His wolf settled down deeper with every sip and the pain he had been feeling since the last moon was slipping away.  
'Home?' The wolf asked gently and Tyler had to blink his tired eyes open at that. He could smell food from the kitchen and the spot he had claimed on the couch was nestling him perfectly. Jamie was to his left, close enough to touch if he wanted but far enough to give himroom.  
'It could be.' He thought back watching the way Jamie glanced over when he caught him staring and smiled.  
The wolf made a happy sound at that and sleep tugged at him. 'Safe.' The wolf promised. 'Safe, safe, safe.'  
Tyler drifted to sleep wondering when the last time he'd felt safe was.  
\-------------------  
When Jamie got the call about Seguin he felt a flutter of excitement followed by a wave of fear. He had seen him play. He would be an asset to the team for sure but he had also seen the way he acted. He was reckless and wild. The Bruins didn't have any other wolves on their team. Chara had a little giant blood in him but giants notoriously wanted little to do with the rest of the supernatural community. Seguin had been left to his own devices and it had blown up in his face.  
Jamie wondered why the local pack hadn't taken him in.  
When he had raised the question with Jodie his brother had shrugged and said that maybe Seguin hadn't wanted to be in a pack. It was strange for a wolf but not unheard of. Jordie was worried too though, dispite his seemingly casual responce. He had thrown himself head first into brewing since he had heard about the trade. Calming balms, and soothing teas.  
Jamie had taken to burning african violet near constantly and had hung a new binding of lavender by the door. He hung acorns in Tylers apartment for protection and luck he left agite stones in closets to make the apartment to ward off any sadness left in the apartment from previous tenants and to keep Seguin from getting to melancholy when he moved in.  
The both choose not to comment on each others nervous habits.  
The day they went to pick Tyler up he looked so small. So young.  
His arua was a dismal grey that made Jamie's third eye ache in echoing sorrow. Jordie couldn't see things the way Jamie could. He had more skill in casting and potions where Jamies skills had always taken more of a 'readers' edge. He could read the cards, or runes, or palms with an accuracy that unnerved some.  
He'd never wanted to read someone as badly as he did Seguin though. What caused someone to have that dark of an aura.  
Jordie bumped him gently bringing him back to himself and he awkwardly introduced them feeling like a moron. He offered to take the new center around the city, most wolves he knew liked to get a feel for their new ground,  meet the local pack that sort of thing but Tyler looked ill at the thought and asked to just be taken to his apartment.  
Worry tugged at him again. Wolves were social creatures, to be so cut off, so unwilling to explore and meet new people was highly uncommon. Tyler hadn't even shaken their hands.  He'd given a half hearted wave and stood a polite distance away. He had to be touch starved. His thoughts must have been written clear as day across his face because Jordie was giving him a serious side eye and offering Tyler dinner in their home.  
The man looked like he would rather chew off his own arm than agree but eventually gave in.  
Jordie hustled them both inside setting them up in the living room letting the tv play some fishing show neither of them was interested in before abandoning them for the kitchen.  
Tyler sat ridgedly and moved so carefully, like his bones were mad of glass shards. While Jamie could sit in silence most times the depression that Tyler was giving off was murder. Jamie got up and went to the his room pulling the comforter off the bed and dumped it on the wolf. It wasn't human contact and it was definitely really out of line but Jamie couldn't take it any more. He dropped back to the couch with a huff and Tyler wiggled until his head popped out from under the covers and he blinked at Jamie looking startled but not angry that he had been literally blanketed by Jamies scent. He opened his mouth then closed it again like he didn't know what to say. "Thank you?" He final went with, not meeting Jamies eye as he tried to discreetly wiggle his way into making the blankets a cocoon while sniffing them. Jordie finally came back pushing a cup into Tylers hands.  
Jamie closes his eyes and breathed in.  
Dragons blood for pain. Blackberry for inflammation. A very subtle touch of belladonna, a sedative.  
Not enough to actually to knock a wolf out but enough to help him relax at the very least. Jordie had been brewing that particular potion since two nights ago when Jamie had cast his runes out and they came back unfavorable. Jamie watched Tyler doze after finishing his drink and wondered who Tylers alpha was. No one had called preceding the wolf's move to speak with Jamie about him as was normal. No one even seemed to know when Tyler had been turned let alone if he had a pack or Alpha he listened too. Jamie had checked. Called around to everyone he could think of in Boston and everyone had the same answer.  Tyler's always been brash and loud and a wild child. It wasn't until he had snarled at someone last year that people even suspected.  
He wasn't a born wolf though, Jamie had googled it. That meant at some point he had either asked for the bite or been forcibly bit. Random werewolf attacks were extremely rair though. The supernatural community policed themselves too ridgedly for out right acts of violence against humans.  
Humans, while aware of the supernatural, had a 'blind eye' policy. Specifically a 'If we don't see you doing weird shit we will ignore your weird shit and we can all coexist peacefully' policy. The question was how did Tyler get by for so long with no one noticing he'd been bit. How could his Alpha let him act out so much.  
"You need to stop." Jordie spoke up coming back into the room and dropping into the lazyboy. "All that thinking isn't going to get you anything Chubs."  
"Shut up." Jamie muttered letting out a heavy sigh in defeat. "I just...I'm worried." He admitted softly. He had seriously misjudged how unhappy Tyler was going to be moving to Texas. He was going to take some aloe upstairs for the loneliness and amaranth for his broken heart and he knew he had some ground Angelica root somewhere that he could sprinkle through Tylers place to keep out negative energy and promote posive in its place. A little extra protection never hurt anybody. "He's so so lonely Jordie."  
Jordie nodded in understanding. "I know, but Jamie, what happened to him before doesn't matter." He said seriously. "What matters is he is here now, he is a Star, one of our own and we will take care of him from this point forward. Alright?"  
Jamie looked back to Tyler. His face, which had held wrinkles and creases from pain and stress while awake had smoothed out. He just looked so damn young.  
"Yeah. Yeah we got him."


	2. Chapter 2

Tyler got along with the team startlingly well. He was all big talk and grand gestures. He played at being happy so well that Jamie starts to wonder if the wolf was just chafing at being watched over by him and his brother. He tried to back off and give the guy some space but that didn't seem to help either. His moods while alone or with just the Benns were completely contradictory to when he was in front of the team.  
Big grins, flirtatious winks and while he still held himself slightly apart from everyone he did let them touch him from time to time, if only briefly. If Jamie didn't know that Tyler was a wolf he would have easily mistaken him for a human.  
He didnt do things Jamie was used to other wolves on teams. Wolves commonly considered their team an extension of their pack. They rolled around and wrestled with them, they had a tendency to stick their literal nose into everything. People's bags, jerseys, behind people's ears. Wolves also wanted to touch anything they could get their hands on. It was a scent thing. They wanted other wolves to know the locker room and team belonged to them.  
Tyler made a point to not touch things. He would wait for other people to open doors if he could and only picked up the things in his locker and space if at all possible. He didn't sit in a room if he didn't have to and constantly was either washing his hands clear up to his elbows or spraying his clothes with a descenter spray he was trying to pass off as cologne.  
"He doesn't plan on staying." Jamie whined to Jordie one night sitting at the table face mashed into the wood and arms stretched out in front of him.  
"You don't know that." Jordie said back pulling a beer from the fridge and shutting the door with his hip.  
"He doesn't want us!" Jamie whined louder, he probably should have stopped drinking a while ago but he'd been sadder then normal and the beer went down so easy. "If he wanted us he would like...rub all over us like Morrow used too. Morrow touched everything!"  
"You want Seguin to touch your everything Chubs? Is that what you're saying." Jordie teased.  
"Fuck you." Jamie shot back half hearted. "You know what I'm saying. He's not making us his home. It's like...it's like he doesn't even want to leave a trace he was here."  
Jordie sighed and patted Jamies back as he walked by. "Let it go man. He will settle in and it will all even out. His energy can't stay that out of balance for long."  
Jamie hummed back at him rolling his cheek off the table so he was balanced on his chin looking at his potted lily-of-the-valley. He had been growing it for three years.  
It was to promote happiness.  
It was wilting.  
Jamie was sitting eating breakfast on a road trip when Jason Demers dropped into the seat next to him.  
"Jason." Jamie greeted.  
"Captain." Jason replied back with a mischievous grin. They had gotten Jason from the sharks. It was a trade Jamie was pleased with but he honestly didn't know the man that well yet.  
"Can I...uh help you with-"  
"Are you taking care of our local puppy?" The question gave him pause.  He glaced around the room looking for Tyler and didn't spot him. The wolf had a tendency to eat in his room though before coming down just in time to catch the bus looking sleep soft and grumpy. "Is everything alright?" Jamie ended up asking.  
"That remains to be seen." Jason replied leaning back in his chair casually. "He thinks about you alot."  
Jamie crushed down his need to blush at that and narrowed his eyes at Jason. He forgot the other man was a telepath. A very good telepath if he could catch more then just pieces of people's thoughts without touching them. 'Get out.' Jamie thought and Jason winced a little as he was forced back from Jamie's mind.  
They sat staring at each other for a moment before Jason gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry. I was just trying to check something."  
"What was that exactly." Jamie asked glazing around again and catching Jordie's eye. His brother frowned and looked like he was going to come over but Jamie waved him off.  
"If you were good for him." Jamie felt himself getting angry and Jason must have heard it because he raised his hands in a universal sign of 'I mean no harm'. But meaning no harm and doing no harm were two different things. It was in the tip of Jamies tounge to tell him to stay away from Tyler when he spoke up. "He is scared of other wolves."  
The sentence gave Jamie pause again. "I dont know why he doesn't think about it. Like specifically doesn't think about it, but he avoids other wolves as best he can and it worried me. I knew you and Jordie have been keeping an eye on him but uh he is confused alot between what he wants and what his wolf wants so I don't think he has been properly socialized."  
The more Jason talked the more worried Jamie got.  Confirmation of what he had been fearing. Something horrible had happened to Seguin.  
"Demers." Jordie cut, putting a stop to Jamies racing mind. "Problem?"  
"I'm fine Jordie." Jamie cut in. "We were just taking."  
"You can go and talk somewhere else can't you?" Jordie pushed making Jason smile and hold up his hands again in retreat this time. "Just trying to get all the facts." He said standing. "Thanks Jamie. Keep doing what your doing. It's working."  
"Nosy!" Jamie shouted after him making the other man laugh.  
"Fucking telepath's." Jordie muttered making Jamie shrug, pushing away his worry for the time being.  
"They grow up with no real concept of privacy. A family of Telepath's are always in each other's heads. Its not his fault he doesn't show restraint with his gifts."  
"So you're saying I should blame his mother then?"  
Jamie snickered into his oatmeal.  
Jason though, was right. Now that Jamie was watching for it Tyler shied away from other wolves, even on the ice.  
The other wolves in question seemed to try and search him out but Tyler exchanged one or two quick harsh looking words before skating away.  
Jamie wanted to ask. He wanted so badly to just even see the bite to try and learn more about the situation that turned him but Tyler kept the mark hidden even in the locker room so Jamie in return kept quite. He didnt even consult the runes and kept his eyes firmly away from the tea leaves in the bottom of his cups. If it was time Tyler needed to feel comfortable in his new home it was time Jamie would give him.  
"Tyler, come with Jamie and me to celebrate Brigid. Its next month and I got us a spot at the local park. It will be fun." Jordie said out of no where one night while they were watching the end of a Flyers game.  
Tyler had taken to slinking down shyly to their apartment to just hang out more often then not until Jamie had manned up and pressed a key into his hand. 'So you don't have to wait for us to let you in.' He had explained awkwardly rubbing at the back of his head. Tyler had smiled like he thought Jamie was a loon but was laid out on their couch sleeping next time they got home late from having lunch after practice. Tyler left a key on the Benns kitchen table with a post-it note attached with Jamies name scrawled on it. He counted it as a win.  
After Tylers new habit of crashing on their couch started Jamie had responded by sleeping with his comforter at night, to keep his smell on it, but leaving it in the living room in case Tyler came by while he was out. The centermen, as far at Jamie could tell never wandered the apartment while he was in it alone. He stayed strictly in the kitchen or living room. Not that he was unwelcome just that he seemed nervous to go anywhere that wasn't a common area.  
Regardless the blanket thing was working, Tyler had stretched his feet out over Jamies lap last week while watching Jordie play a round in Halo and Jamie thought he might die from the shock of it. Tyler had given him a weird look, probably from the way his heart sounded like it was going to beat out of his chest but Jamie kept his hand on Tylers ankle trying to act normal and refused to get up least Tyler pull away.  
Jordie mocked him endlessly for it, but Tyler seemed appreciative it so it evened out.  
"The fuck is Brigid?" Tyler asked peeking out from under his nest.  
"Its a holiday you goon." Jordie shot back looking scandalized.  
"I've never heard of it." Tyler replied back sinking back down to a more comfortable position. "You have a big cook out or something?"  
"Me and Jamie dance nude under the moon." Jordie replied easily and Tyler paused for a moment before sitting back up and giving them both skeptical looks. "You two...dance...naked! In the middle of the night?  In public?"  
Jordie was snorting a laugh into his beer at Tylers face but Jamie felt embarrassment creeping in. "Not naked." He muttered forcing his eyes on the tv. The lightnight needed work on their power play. "Skyclad."  
He saw Tyler mouth skyclad to himself before looking to Jordie for confirmation. The defenseman looked immeasurably pleased but nodded along in agreement. "Is there a difference? Naked? Skyclad?"  
"Naked is for yourself. Skyclad is an offering of sorts." Jamie said when Jordie didn't offer anything.  
Tyler looked more amused than anything, like he thought they were pulling his leg. "Right, obviously. Yeah alright I'm down. Anyone else going? Is it like a big nudest party?"  
Jamie hadn't planned on inviting anyone but now that it was out there he wondered if he shouldn't ask Jason if he wanted to go. Telepaths didn't really do offerings or need recharging like witches did but he was still a supernatural. He would probably enjoy the feeling of all that power in one place. "We go with another group cause it's just Chubs and me, but they wont mind if you tag alone. You could strip down and run around if you wanted." Jordie answered finishing off his beer and getting up to get another.  
Tyler laughed at that. "I will leave that to you two thanks." He leaned to the side, half resting against Jamies shoulder getting comfortable to watch the rest of the game.  
Jamie's leg went numb before Tyler decided to go home.  
\--------  
The first time Jamie saw Tylers wolf it was by accident. Tyler certainly hadn't meant for it to happen. If he had his way no one would ever see what he was.  
He had forked over his spare key on a whim when Jamie had awkwardly worked through a stilted conversation to give Tyler one to his.  
Tyler found Jamie unbearably endearing. The captain of his new team was so damn awkward at times but he wanted the best for everyone all the time. Tyler could get behind a guy like that.  
Jamie and Jordie had made it their mission to welcome Tyler to Dallas and once that was clear to everyone the rest of the team followed their example.  
No one brought up Boston. No one asked why he was such a fuck up before. More importantly no one on the team was wolf or kin. There was no rain smell anywhere in the American Airlines Center expect for the random fan from time to time. The knowledge made something loosen in his chest he hadn't realized had built up to such a crushing weight until it was gone.  
Jason Demers made the wolf shift uncomfortably under his skin. He wasn't sure way. The guy didn't seem off to him but the wolf would not be appeased by Tylers shitty human judgements.  
Jamie and Jordie still smelled like static. He didnt know what that meant either.  
The brothers never did anything supernatural, the oddest thing about them was Jamies love of plants and Jordie always shoving tea at Tyler as soon as he was through their door.  
Jamie also had a tendency to leave things in Tylers apartment. Acorns, potted plants, some type of pouch filed with dried up flowers. One memorable time Tyler found three pretty orangish yellow stones between his box spring and mattress. It had taken him forever to find and he really couldn't do anything but laugh when he saw it. Everyone had superstitions, some weirder than others. While kind of odd it wasn't a bad use of his apartment key he supposed.  
At least he hadn't thought it was a bad use of his key until he was home one evening and could hear the lock click over.  
Tyler was sweating and shaking in bed. He was supposed to have gone to dinner with some of the guys but the moon sickness was hitting him so hard he had to bail. He didnt normally feel this sick until the moon was actually out. He wasn't even fully dark yet and its call was rocking through him.  
"Tyler?" Jamie said surprised stopping in his doorway looking startled. "Are you alright?"  
"Go 'way Jamie." Tyler whined. His bones were aching from the force it was taking to not shift. He doesn't want . It was his body he didn't want to change into something else.  
"Ty...you don't look so good." Jamie said softly,  reasonably. "Let me help you. Ok just tell me-"  
Tyler felt Jamie take a step into his room like a physical blow. He pushed up right and snarled. "Get out!" His teeth were lengthening and his jaw made a horrible cracking sound as it tried to elongate. 'Out!' The wolf demanded. 'Let me out!' Fur broke out across his cheeks down his neck and arms. Jamie was blinking at him in consern.  
Stupid! Tyler thought. Run! Run don't you see what I am! He tried to yell. But a howl came out instead, it resounded of the walls around them and ended in a whimper. He was changing. Damn it. It was too late the pull was too strong. His phone was ringing somewhere off to his left and Jamie was reaching for him, Tyler wanted to tell him no but he was being ripped apart from the inside out. He couldn't remember anything but the pain filling him, words were but a distant memory. The wolf would not be denied if Tyler wouldn't shift by choice the wolf would just claw its way out. His muscles shredded and his bones broke reforming again and again to twist him into something else.  
A monster.  
Jamie was calling for him, trying to hold him still while he thrashed and cried but he couldn't be soothed.  
He wanted to cry by the time the shift was done. Everything hurt. A pain so deep iy resonated in his soul. They laid still after it was all over, eerily quiet. Something was petting them. Slow and smooth and steady. Their big head was cradled against someone's soft belly.  
A sign of trust. The wolf thought pleased, taking cautious huffs of breath afraid to inhale to deep just yet. Their organs weren't happy with them at the moment.  
Herbs. Static. Jamie. Sweet sweet Jamie.  
Their tail thumped against the floor happily. They both liked Jamie, he cared for them. Scented them. Feed them. He was their person.  
"Hey, there we are. We're ok. We're gonna be just fine right." They weren't sure how they ended up on the floor but Jamie was scratching them behind their ears so the thought could wait.  
They picked their head up snarling. Someone was at the door.  
"Its just Jordie, Tyler." Jamie said quickly gripping his fingers into their thick fur to keep him there. As if their Damaged body was capable of moving yet at all. "He is gonna lay a mountain ash line for us by your door. Just a precaution cause you're freaking me the fuck of a little ok." The wolf huffed at that displeased but Tyler didn't know what any of that meant so what did he care what Jordie put by the door. They looked back to Jamie and froze. He scratched him. Claw marks from Jamie's neck down the front of his chest. His shirt was ripped open and blood was oozing out. 'No!' Tyler thought. 'NO!' He shoved the wolf away,  shoved the need for the moon and the want to stay curled up with pack down and forced himself to shift back. It was faster to become human, but no less painful.  
"I'm sorry!" He sobbed into Jamie's chest. "I'm so sorry! I tried to-to-"  
Jamie sushed him and was rocking them. Cradling Tylers abused body too him dispite what Tyler was, what he had done. "Shh Tyler, calm down. You're going to hyperventilate."  
"I cursed you! You're going to become like me!"  
"Tyler you're not making any sense buddy. Just breathe with me ok and calm down. I'm ok. I promise I'm ok and your ok too alright." Jamie whispered nonsense at him gentle and soft while everything else around Tyler felt like broken glass. Jamie felt like a cool stream soothing and sweet.  
Tylers body started cramping again. The beast wanted back out. 'My night' it demanded. 'This is my night, my moon, my person. Let me out!'  
"Relax Ty, relax let the shift come don't fight it. I got you. I got you I promise."  
He was pressed naked and shaking against his captain crying so hard he was half chocking on it and for once he did what he was told.  
He let go.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One quick note.  
> I have gotten some reviews letting me know I could use a beta for my work and while I appreciate everyone who offered to do this for me (please know this is not directed at you at all) that is not what this work is about for me. I write in my spare time of which I have very little on my phone via the keyboard in a note taking application that only lets me write a few paragraphs at a time before I have to open a new note and start again. It is extremely time consuming for me to edit this way as once the note is full I can go no further regardless of spelling changes or sentence structures I wish to change. This means that when I transfer my work onto this site I have to hope I catch all my mistakes in my proofread and again, just to reiterate this is all from my phone which is finicky at the best of times. While I understand that seeing mistakes in a fiction is frustrating and there are options to help me make my work better I am writing for my enjoyment as a pastime. I don't want to take the time to edit my work send it to someone else wait for them to read and edit it then go over their edits before posting. I write in hopes that other people will enjoy my stories and world's and take a moment to get away from the stress of the day. If my writing does not do that for you then please don't read it and don't leave me messages about how though you enjoy my work my mistakes make you not want to continue reading. Your careless remark made me almost stop writing before I remembered this is my pastime that I'm choosing to share with you. I love writing and I hope everyone reading loves my work as much I do but if you don't or your not going to be constructive with your criticism please go away. I am fragile and this is my soul you are so eager to disregard.  
> On that melodramatic note please continue on to my non betaed work. And to all of you who have left me kudos and comments I can't thank you enough. You are my light.

The rain was pouring down. Heavy sheets of it nearly blinding him. Jamie was covered in mud, his left leg was coated half way up his thigh and his right just past his knee.  
He was bare, but the moon was hidden behind the clouds so he wasn't sure who he was making an offering too.  
The grass was slick under his feet and hummed with power. Even the dirt stuck to his skin was practically vibrating with it. Maybe he wasn't courting the moon tonight.  Maybe mother earth was his mistress.  
His arms were covered nearly to the elbow in mud too he realized. He could feel it thick and sticky splattered across his chest, neck and face. Jamie looked at his hand the mud took on a sinister dark red hue. Maybe it wasn't mud. Maybe it was blood. He couldn't remember why was he here.  
The rain was deafening, downing out everything else, locking Jamie in his own world. Safe from outside influences, his circle would hold. The thought came and while Jamie knew it to be true he didn't know why.  
Pounding  
Pulsing.  
Power.  
He was a part of it. A connection of earth and sky. Dirt and water and blood. He reached his arms up and embraced the storm, welcomed it to him and thanked it for the life it brought him.  
The power wasn't pulsing around him any more though; or maybe it never had been in the first place he couldn't tell. He opened his eyes and blinked up at the weeping sky. The power wasn't coming from the earth or sky or the moon. It wasn't being lent or borrowed or exchanged for. It was him. Inside him to use, right there at his finger tips.  
The pounding was his heart.  
The pulsing was his blood.  
The power was his soul.  
He was strong now.  
Someone was calling him. Far away and very small. Their power was nothing, insignificant hardly worth noticing but they were coming closer. Even with his rain pouring down and his earth making the way slippery and dangerous they pressed closer. They were almost there, breaking into his circle, it was ok; they belonged to him anyway. He should look at them but the clouds were beautiful and no one could hurt him any more so why bother looking away.  
"Jamie!" They were touching his face forcing him away from the sky where his soul was reaching out for the hidden stars. Forcing him back down. He wanted to lash out, but they were so small, so weak. One wrong move and he could crush their power into nothingness.  
Tyler was looking at him, fear written across his face. No not fear but terror. He looked so afraid but he wasn't letting go. Rain dripped from his soaking wet hair like art. Jamie could destroy him with all but a thought now. Tiny, weak, baby wolf.  But he wouldn't, Tyler was his. He would never hurt Tyler with his big brown eyes and his normal easy smiles. "Jamie! What did you do?" Tyler yelled his voice shaking his eyes red rimmed like he had been crying.  
What had he done? Jamie wondered and something sick and oily twisted in his stomach. Panic started to creep up his throat. What had he done!  
Jamie woke with a gasp like he was surfacing from under water.  
"Jamie?" The timid question drew his gaze to the door. Tyler stood at the edge of his own doorway looking like he was feeling kind of cagey, peeking around like someone was going to jump out at him. They slept on the floor and while Jamie had woken several times through the night this was the first time Tyler had been back to human.  
 "Jamie?" He questioned  again softly, voice sounding hoarse when Jamie didn't answer.  
"I'm sorry." Jamie forced out, he could still feel the trembling under his skin. He was afraid if he moved he was going to be sick. "Sorry Tyler." He repeated pressing his palms to his eyelids. A vision or just a dream? He wasn't strong enough for visions he reasoned. He had the gift of reading sure and sight often went with that if the witch in question had the raw talent for it but Jamie had never had enough excess power to try. He had never wanted to. Seers went mad. Seers went absolutely crazy and most of them in the old days got burned at the stake. It was too much power, it made humans nervous. Jamie wasn't sure when he had started taking giant gasps of air but once he noticed it got ten times worse.  
Tyler was touching him. Pulling him into his arms making soothing hush-hush noises and whispering nonsense until Jamie stopped shaking and came back down from whatever panic had gripped him.  
"We should have slept in a bed." Jamie muttered thinking of the crystals he had tucked away under the mattress. They would have never let him dream. He wouldn't be having this problem.  
Tyler made a noise and pulled Jamie up and lead him by the hand. "Tyler!" Jamie said startled as he was manhandled into the bed.  
"Its too early to be up." Tyler reasoned pulling the comforter over them. "We can get up again later."  
Jamie wanted to argue. They had a lot to talk about but sleep was tugging at him and he wondered if maybe he didn't charm the bed a little too hard to promote sleep as he was tugged under.  
By the time they woke up again it was past noon. Tylers head was pushed against Jamie's belly like if he pressed hard enough he could hide from his pain in the warmth of the other mans skin. He had slept the same way as a wolf.  
Jamie hesitated a moment before making a decision and running his hand through Tylers hair. He invited him into his bed. The fact Tyler had let him into his room at all last night was still mind boggling. Petting Tyler after having slept in his den wasn't that big of a leap. "Tyler." Jamie coaxed. "We have to get up or we will never sleep tonight."  
 Tyler made a rude snorting noise at that but woke in pieces. First pressing his face harder into Jamie's belly, then relaxing. Next with a little more coaxing he stretched until all his boned popped satisfyingly and he made soft sniffling noses while running his fists into his eyes. It made warm protective feelings rush through Jamie that he didn't bother pushing away. He could feel protective if he wanted who was going to judge him here?  
When Tyler finally blinked big brown eyes open he froze. They were both quiet a moment and the wolf took on a look like he might be sick. Jamie wondered if Tyler hadn't still been a little more wolf then man this morning when he had ushered them into bed.  
 "Are you hungry?" Jamie asked sitting up slowly in case Tylers mood was at Jamie being so close.  Wolves were always hungry it wasn't even a real question but Tyler shook his head negatively so Jamie stayed sitting at the edge of the mattress. It seemed like he was just going to have to out wait whatever Tyler was working through so he stayed mostly still and rubbed at his own eyes trying to adjust to the afternoon sun coming in the window.  
"I'm sorry." Tyler whispered at his hands. "Jamie I'm so sorry about last night. I didn't mean for any of it-"  
"Hold on. Hold on ok. You were saying something about this last night too and it still doesn't make sense now." Jamie cut in holding up his hands and blinking Tyler into focus.  
"Jamie! I'm a...a-you saw what I was!"  
"A werewolf yeah." Jamie replied frowning watching as Tyler pulled blankets discreetly closer like they could help buffer the rest of the world.  
"I'm a monster and I scratched you! You're going to turn like me!"  
"Ok..." Jamie took a deep breath counting backwards from 5.  
Then started over and tried from 10.  
"Ok I'm going to address the biggest issue with that first and I want to be very clear before I move on to the rest of it."  
Tylers eyes looked huge with regret and pain. He held himself  curled in like he was afraid Jamie might lash out and it made the stars captain's heart cleanch. "First and foremost, Tyler Seguin you are not a monster.  You are 6'1, 195 pounds of sarcastic remarks, and a beast on skates that makes other teams cry but the fact that you are a werewolf does not, will not and has nothing to do with being a monster." Jamie said pointing at Tyler sternly. "Jordie is more of a monster than you. Did you see him flatten Andrew Shaw last week?"  
Tyler let out a startled laugh at that but didn't look entirely convinced, more along the lines of manic. Whatever Jamie would work on it. At least he had the ground work down he could get Jordie in on starting a reverse brainwashing. "Part two, I have gotten worst scratches from sex then the one you gave me yesterday. Seriously it will be gone by the end of the week tops if I didn't put anything on it." Tyler flushed at that making Jamies face brighten in return before he pressed on. "Also you can't scratch someone into being a werewolf Tyler you're watching too many cheesy movies." He muttered.  
"Your not going to change?" Tyler asked looking shocked sitting up a little.  "You're not cursed?"  
"No man, and neither are you! What has your alpha been teaching you?"  
Tyler jerked at the question like he had been hit and scrambled out of the bed to start pacing.  
Jamie sighed and watched him he was so tired. All he wanted to do was go to his own apartment get a cup of tea and talk to Jordie about that dream he had but he wasn't going to rush this. He had a horrible feeling everything about Tylers change had been rushed already and he wasn't going to add his name to that list.  
Tyler was chewing his thumb nail ragged and looking more wild then he had last night in his wolf form his pacing taking on an irritated edge. Irritated wolves were never a good thing, they had the tendency to snap their jaws and try to bully their way through whatever problem was annoying them. "Ty...Tyler sit down."  
"Its not his fault." Tyler snapped then looking at Jamie with a mix of fear and determination. "My alpha...he...I mean it's complicated. He means well but..."  
Jamie frowned. "He should have been here with you last night. How long have you been trying to hold back your shift? Did he not teach you anything?" Wolves very rarely went loner. They needed their pack for safety and growth and strength. Even packs who lived long distances from one another spoke on the night of the full moon. It let them share in each others power. Tyler was doing nearly the opposite.  
"My alpha isn't really...an alpha persay." Tyler shot back before deflating a little. They both paused at that. Jamie gripped his nose between his fingers feeling a headache coming on. "What does that mean exactly?"  
"Um...my uh my alpha has an alpha so...you know he was never really meant to be-"  
"Tyler that's not the way it works.  Just because he turned you doesn't mean-"  
"He didn't turn me!" Tyler snarled and the wolf must really still be close to the surface because it came out a little heavier, more subvocal than a humans voice should be able to pull off. "He saved me!"  
Quiet fell again and Jamie felt more confused than ever. "Who-"  
"I'm not telling you that."  
They looked at each other from across the table at a stand still. "Tyler..."  
"I'm not going to. He has his own life I was an accident he never meant to get involved with. If I tell you your going to want to talk to him. You talk to him you're gonna wanna talk to his alpha! And if you talk to her your gonna get involved with something you don't need to be involved with."  
"Will you tell me when you got bit?" Jamie tried weakly reaching out but dropping his hand when Tyler flinched. Maybe he could figure it out on his own if he had a time line.  
"No...I didn't think I'm even allowed to actually."  
Talking to Tyler about this was a trial of patience, nothing got illuminated and ten more questions came up. Jamie's frustration must have shown on his face because Tyler shifted restlessly. "Jamie, I'm sorry it's just..." he paused swallowing thickly. "My changing isn't a good story. Things happened that I can never unsee and people died, horrifying deaths and I...I can't-"  
"Shh no its okay. You don't have to say anything alright." Jamie stood and crossed the room pulling the other man into his arms regardless of the fact that Tyler tried to shrink away from it. He was shaking, tremors from head to toe. Jamie felt like an asshole. People died he said, Jamie racked his brain trying to think of any articles he had seen even hinting about a cover up story involving dead weres and Tyler. None came to mind. Most of Tylers old press was about how hard he partied and inconsistent he was, not about over involvement with the supernatural community.  
A changing that went wrong though, it had to be documented at least within the supernatural subgroup it pertained too. It made sure 'accidents' didnt keep happening. Too many force changes made humans get up in arms about supers policing themselves. All of the wolves Jamie had reached out too seemed to find Tyler as much of an enigma as he did. So something wasn't adding up. Someone wasn't held accountable or Tyler would have a real pack not a maybe sorta alpha he wouldn't even talk about.  
Tyler shivered again in Jamies arms and he sighed tabling his conserns for the time being. "I shouldn't have pushed. I'm sorry. I'm just...I want to help you." Jamie admitted wincing at how stupid he sounded.  
"I'm okay." Tyler whispered back clinging to Jamie in a way he never had before. He pushed his face into Jamies neck body relaxing as he took big huffs of breath to calm down before he seemed to realize what he was doing and tried to pull back. Jamie held tight.  "I'm okay." He repeated and Jamie shook his head. "Im not." Tyler seemed conflicted for a second before he relaxed and nestled himself more comfortably in Jamies arms.  
It was becoming more and more clear that it wasn't that Tyler didn't want to do wolf things like Jamie was used too but that he didn't trust his own instincts. He cut himself off from people because he didn't know how much was acceptable.  
"You had a bad dream." Jamie stiffened at that and Tyler pulled back enough to narrow his eyes at him. "Are you ok?"  
"Yeah. I'm fine." He said quickly before blushing at Tylers unconvinced face. "I'm fine it was just a dream."  
Tyler untangled himself gently and gave Jamie an unimpressed look. "If you want to talk about it you could tell me...hey so...Im glad it was you."  
Jamie frowned at that watching as Tyler puttered around his room straightening up aimlessly before he peeked at Jamie and smiling nervously. "I'm glad it was you who came in here last night and not anyone else. I couldn't have asked for a better person to be on my side."  
Jamie felt his face go up in flames at that and cleared his throat awkwardly. "I'm always gonna be on your side, man." He said shoving his hands in his pockets suddenly not knowing where to put them. Tyler grinned at his awkwardness only serving to make him feel more like an idiot. "You want to see if we can con Jordie into making us lunch?" He asked changing the topic.  
Tyler grinned at that but rubbed at the back of his head. "Ah well, I would like to but I'm just gonna be honest I'm probably going to get super tired and mildly cranky in a few hours once I calm down a little more."  
"Still feeling the moon?" It was more of a statement then a question as Jamie too could feel the echo of the moon. It only felt like power to him but to Tyler it was more a sirens call. At least that's the way Morrow described it. Tyler nodded and looked towards the living room like he was listening to something.  
"You know you are more than welcome to crash on our couch, or in my room if Jordie is being a moose and too loud."  
"Your room?" Tyler looked surprised at that and Jamie shrugged fighting back a knee jerk reaction to blush again. So what if he was offering Tyler a place in his 'den' it wasn't like Tyler would even really fully understand the gesture.  
"Just...the bed would be more comfortable."  
Tyler scuffed his foot against the floor thinking before he nodded. "Yeah alright I'll come down if you don't mind. "  
Jamie did some quick work with the mountain ash line on his way out and Tyler raised an eye brow at him. "You're so weird." He muttered.  
Silence followed them out of the apartment and to the elevator where they waited for the ever slow carriage to make its way up. Jamie wondered if the quiet that followed them out of the apartment was as stifling to Tyler as it was to him but didnt want to his own over thinking making Tyler feel awkward too. He rubbed at his neck feeling a tension headache building. He was definitely going to need a nap at some point today.  
"Brownie?" Tyler spoke up as the elevator doors slid open. A man stood in the center of the cart looking relaxed and mildly annoyed. Hehad a similar build to Tyler and the same kind of 'bro' look but his face was void of any smile that could normally be found on Tylers own face.  
"How's it going wifie?" He asked wroth a lazy drawl and Tyler took off at a run, plowing into the other man full tilt. The brunette braced for impact and hardly even took a step back catching the wolf around the waist and hoisting him into a full body hug. Jamie caught the elevator door on reflex more then anything watching the two in shock.  
"Fucking a, Brownie what are you doing here?" Tyler asked face pressed into the others neck arms around his shoulders.  
They looked pretty together. The thought made Jamie want to throw himself in front of a truck but there it was. Jamie politely averted his eyes and walked slowly onto the car and pushed the button for his floor.  
"You didn't answer my phone calls. A ah.. friend of yours called said he was trying to reach you too but you weren't calling back. We were worried with the moon yesterday." Brownie replied dropping Tyler back to his own two feet, making the cart around them shake dangerously and Jamie close his eyes gripping the rail. Tyler didn't move away like Jamie expected him to though.  He pressed himself into the other man's side letting him drape an arm across his shoulders casual in a way Tyler never was with people. "I can see you were just busy though." Brownie teased looking at Jamie as he pushed repeatedly at the open door button. The other man was rubbing him wrong and he couldn't tell why. His own inability to share his friends probably. Jamie thought at himself meanly clicking the button once more to annoy himself and the brunette watching him with cold eyes. "Should I have not come?"  
"Fuck off." Tyler laughed shoving him away. "This is Jamie Benn, Jamie this is Tyler Brown."  
"Pleasure." Brown said reaching a hand out Jamie shook it quickly and pushed his way throughthe half open elevator doors. "Likewise." He muttered retreating to his apartment were he was quick to turn the key and flee inside. So what if he looked like an asshole he had been up all night with a werewolf he was entitled to be socially inept.  
Tyler padded his way in behind him and Jordie looked at them with judgment. "Its nearly 2 are you just getting up?"  
"Shut up Jordie." Jamie whined walking past him and reaching for the lemonade out of the fridge.  
"Hey can Brownie come in?" Tyler asked hanging by the door where is friend was waiting patiently just outside the threshold.  
Jordie looked at Jamie who was doing his best to ignore the fact that he was hugely irritated that Tyler was that comfortable with someone when he was working so hard to get Tyler to even sit by him on the couch. He added salt to his lemonade and mixed it viciously. Maybe he should go down to the gym and work out. Or maybe he could get Jordie to mix him up a bit of witch hazel and he could treat his cut.  
"Sure." Jordie said slowly frowning at Jamie. Fuck him he could be grumpy if he wanted.  
"Ah..." Tyler shifted nervously making Jamie look at him dispite himself.  "You have to actually like Invite invite him in."  
Both Benns paused and looked at Brown who was still just standing just outside the door. This made his social nicetie of waiting outside take a darker edge.  
"Tyler." Jordie paused looking between them. "Is that a vampire?"  
"Brownie?" Tyler asked blinking. "Yeah of course he is."  
Jamie had the strong urge to pull Tyler away from the door and lock him up in a tower somewhere for his own good. How could one person wind up with this much trouble following them.  
"You gonna be a dick about this cause Tyler has been my friend for-"  
"Give um a minute before you go all vampire rights Ty, shit. Its kind of a big deal to let me into someone's home." Tyler deflated a little and Brown gave him a shrug. "Witches especially aren't fond of having the 'dead' in their living space."  
"What do Witches have to do with anything?" Tyler asked tilting his head to the side in a very dog like manner.  
Everyone paused at that and Jordie shoved half of a sandwich into his mouth to keep from having to answer looking a mix between wonderment and horrified. It was like watching a train wreck.  
"Uh...Jordie and I are witches so..." Jamie gave a helpless shrug watching Tylers suprise cover his face. "I mean most wolves can smell it and we aren't real secretive about it." He motioned awkwardly to the plants all over the apartment, some still growing others hung to dry. Jordie had his favorite old school cauldron balanced precariously at the edge of the counter were he always kept it when he had a potion he was going to brew but was still trying to decide the best way to go about getting what he needed out of it.  
"Surprise?" Jamie hazard looking at Tyler who was looking back at him stunned. Jamie really wanted to go back to bed.


	4. Chapter 4

"Jamie..."   
The answering silence made the wolf roll under Tylers skin unhapply. He could smell the other man just on the other side of the door. Tyler didn't like smelling other people, it was a sharp remind that he wasn't human anymore.  That he wasn't normal. That he could hurt people.   
'Hurt him all on your own' his wolf brain reminded him making Tyler wince and press his head against the door. Yeah he did. Jamie's betrayed face when Tyler refused to say anything and then had jumped when Jordie had snapped at him to stop acting like an asshole would stay with him forever. He was a dick.   
Jamie had been sweet to him since the day he arrived.   
And he had known Tyler was a wolf the whole time.   
Jamie was a witch. He thought to himself letting the coolness of the door soothe the headache he had building.   
Jamie was not what he thought of when he thought of witches.  
 He'd slept with a witch once when he'd been human still. A little willowy thing with wild hair and sharp eyes. She hadn't had plants all over her apartment they way Jamie and Jordie did. She had stones and candles and chalk circles. She had nearly strangled him when Tyler had accidentally smeared one of the larger more intricate circles she'd had drawn on the floor.   
The hate sex that followed had been fun but Marchy warned him off of giving her a call back. 'Witches are crazy man.' He had said. They'll hex you as soon as look at you.  You better hope she doesn't have any of your hair.' Tyler had been worried sick for months remembering the used condom he'd left in her wastebasket. Nothing had come of it but it had fucked him up for a while.   
"Jamie please, I'm...I'm sorry ok I was just startled was all." Tyler whispered against the door. He got no response and he wanted to bang his fist against the barrier in frustration but held still. "I know your not like...a demon summoner or anything like that. I know you Jamie, you're a good guy, I'm sure your just like a low level apothecary or something right? Basically human?"  
Jamies door jerked open and Tyler stumbled forward before being shoved hard back. "Get out!" Jamie hissed eyes looking strangely wet. "Get the fuck out of my house!" The wolf in Tyler wanted to roll over so suddenly it made his knees weak but he forced himself to stay standing.   
"Jamie please I-"  
He was shoved again pushing him back down the hall a few more stumbling steps before he caught himself and looked at Jamie shocked. The other man looked furious and where he normal hunched to in courage people to over look him he was standing tall now looking broad and intimidating and Tylers wolf instincts begged him to get low and protect his belly.   
"Get the fuck out of my house you bigot. I have to have no power because I'm a good person! Go fuck yourself!" Tyler backed up on his own this time as Jamie pressed forward, his skin felt prickly. He was finding it harder to breathe and he wasn't sure it it was from Jamie or his own panic.   
"Hey Jamie stop." Jordie cut in startling Tyler again. He hadn't realized he'd backed all the way to the kitchen already. He was hunching over slightly and bearing his teeth in warning at Jamie who was looking at him with fury in his own eyes.   
Tyler snapped his mouth shut and pulled himself up right trying to look more human and Jamie scoffed.  
"You are so wrapped up in your own self hatred you don't even know regular self preservation anymore." Jamie said, no longer yelling but sounding disgusted. "Your wolf is the smart one Tyler how you made it so far in life without it is beyond me. Get out of my house and don't come back here. I want nothing to do with you."   
Bile rose up in Tylers throat and he had to swallow it back down before he embarrassed himself even more. He could feel a cold wash off dread fill him making sweat prickle across his skin and he couldn't stop the whine that escaped him.   
Brownie was touching his shoulders. Whispering softly to him trying to tug him from the apartment.   
'Go.' The wolf urged. 'go go go.' The building was shaking, rattling so hard Tyler could hardly keep his feet as he stumbled out the door.   
Jamie was a witch. He could bring the whole building down. The thought made Tylers stomach flip as he threw himself into the stairwell. He was going to be sick. The whole fucking building was quaking.  
"Ty, Tyler babe your shaking." Brownie whispered in his ear wrapping him in his arms and easing him away from the railing he'd been clinging to. Tyler couldn't breathe, the building wasn't coming apart, he was.   
Brownie held him tighter until it made his bones ache. He was going to cry.   
"I have to go." Tyler mewled trying to wriggle his way out of the death grip on him but Brownie held tight. "Please, please I can't stay here I can smell them still."  
"You're scaring me." The words made Tyler freeze.  
His heart was pounding in his chest and he was covered in sweat like he'd just come from the gym and even though he stopped struggling his muscles continued to shiver liked they'd been over worked.  
Quiet fell over them. Brownie was still behind him, a solid pressure at his back but unnervingly motionless in a way he rarely ever was in front of Tyler.   
It took work for a vampire to seem alive. They didn't need to breathe or blink or have their heart beat. Most of them did to make others around then more comfortable, 'Humans don't like to be reminded of that kind of stillness because the only way they can achieve it is death.' Brownie had explained when Tyler asked him why he bothered breathing at all. There were stories of some of the older vampires that could sit in stillness for so long their bodies couldn't even pretend to fake life anymore.   
Tyler clung to that and closed his eyes. If they could do it for years he could surely be still for a few moments. Breathe slower he told himself feeling the burning protest of his over worked lungs. Just breathe we can make it through this moment.   
His shaking died down slowly until only his hands trembled. It was the best he was going to get without a drink.   
"Brownie...lets go get breakfast."   
The vampire behind him didn't move for a moment before sighing heavily. "We are going to talk about this."   
Tyler nodded. He knew the drill. Brownie always wanted to talk about every super induced freak out Tyler had. There had been less of them since he'd joined the Stars. Months spent slowly letting himself relax only to have it all thrown back in his face. He was sick. His wasn't ever going to get better he wasn't sure why he kept trying to pretend he was.   
"Later." Tyler croaked throat feeling dangerously tight.    
Jamie was a witch.  
He closed his eyes and begged that Brownie let it go. That for once in his life he catch a break because if Brownie pushed now Tyler was going to start crying in this stairwell and he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to stop.   
He felt like he was standing at the edge of a soul consuming ledge. That if he fell now he would never be able to come back from it.   
His shivering picked up again as the sweat on his skin started to dry.   
"You want to order in or go out?" Brownie finally asked hooking his chin over Tylers shoulder. Tyler could feel his lungs contract and expand against his back. The puffs of air against his ear. Brownies heart started beating with a sluggish thump thump.  
Tyler sent up silent thanks to the universe.  
They would play normal a while longer.   
"Let's go out." 

The diner Brownie toke them to offered blood in a box with a side of fries that he ordered with a smile and a wink at the waitress. He followed it up with the a plate called the Moon-over before Tyler can even put a word in edge wise.  
The Moon-over boasts that it had everything a growing Were could need to bounce back from a night under the full moon. 100% guaranteed to fix a full moon hang over or the next plate was on the house.   
Tyler wanted to say he didn't need it but his stomach growled cutting him off and Brownie just raised a sassy eyebrow at him in response sipping at his microwaved box of blood.   
He must be tired.   
He'd flown all the way to Dallas just to check on him and as cool as his bat form is it was exhausting to fly that far. He was going to need way more then one box blood if he planed on keeping body healthy.  
"I'm sorry."   
"Don't start that."  
"Brownie I'm sorry ok, I'm sorry you had to fly all the way out here because my alpha called you-"  
"Ty stop."  
"I-"  
Brownie slammed his fist onto the table top making the silverware and condiment bottles rattle. "For fucks sake Tyler. I didn't come because your stupid Alpha called. I came because you stopped answering your phone and I thought you were dead!"  
Tyler sat frozen across from him scared to look around and see who was watching them. People were going to notice him. He used to like being noticed, reveled in it but now others eyes always felt prying and judgmental. What if they saw him eating a meal meant for a wolf, what if people found out! Jamie and Jordie knew what he was. If they could tell maybe so could everyone else. Maybe everyone could tell just by looking at him that he was a monster.   
"When are you gonna realize Tyler what happened to you didn't just effect you. When you called me..." Brownie swallowed hard and he looked gutted. Guilt twisted in Tylers stomach. He made Brownie have that face. It was his fault his friends always worried. "Ty when you skype called me all covered in blood I thought I was going to loss you and I was too fucking far away to do anything about it. So when you fall of the grid like that and stop answering me you bet your sweet ass I'm coming to find you. You don't get to be sorry for that."   
They fell quiet as their food was placed on the table and Tyler picked at his carb packed plate. Fans whirled above then making rhythmic woosh woosh sounds.   
The only one who should feel sorry for this is already dead." Brownie said softly making Tyler stiffen. "And my only regret about that is that your alpha was the one who got to do it and not me."   
Tyler looked up and their eyes met.  
 He could still hear the screams. His own screams, the one who infected hims screams. The wet garbled sound the monster had made as he stuggled to breathe through his ripped open throat. The snap of bones and the slick gooey sound a heart makes when it is pulled out of a chest. His new alpha's normally gentle face covered in blood.  
"I love you Brownie...I'm glad it wasn't you there...Because I can't look at him now without seeing what he did." The and that scares me was left unsaid but as always Brownie understood and gave him a sad smile the anger from earlier fading away.   
Tyler pressed his ankle against Brownies and the wolf perked up thinking 'pack'. Brownie smiled and trapped his foot between both of his and picked at his fries eating obnoxiously and shooting looks at Tylers own plate.   
"Yeah yeah I'm going." He muttered picking up his fork and digging in. 

"Seriously Tyler how did you not know they were witches bro?" Brownie asked walking around Tylers apartment picking up acorns as he went. He tossed them in the air and caught them tossed them and caught them before dropping them back in a different window sill.  
"Fuck off dude! Sorry my first thought when people act a little weird isn't too go straight to they must be supernatural." Brownie waved some sweet smelling bag of dried out plants and stones Jamie had left at him accusingly and Tyler flushed. "Shut up."  
"You are a box of rocks." Brownie teased dropping his ass down onto the couch. Tyler lasted fifteen seconds before he was bullying the bigger man out of that spot to the other side of the couch. That was Jamies spot where he sat super still waiting for Tyler to get his life together and relax. Sometimes on bad days when he was too afraid he was bothering the Benn brothers too much he laid on the couch and pressed his face into Jamies spot. He didnt want Brownies smell to fuck it up  
The wolf was making rumblings about pack towards the Benn brothers but Tyler was too scared to press it. Brownie and his alpha had always been the only pack he'd ever known. He doesn't know how to take the questioning tug he feels sometimes towards the Benns and make it a solid tie. He doesn't even know who to ask. Maybe now that he freaked the fuck out it wouldn't even matter. Maybe the Stars would trade him too and he would have to start all over. He didnt want to start over. He liked it here. He liked his team. He liked the Benns. He liked Jamie's awkward attempts at including him and the way he was so patient when Tyler was too scared of acting too much like a wolf and ended up being a fucking disaster of a human anyway.   
Tyler layed across Brownies lap and sighed. "I fucked up."  
Brownie made an agreeing humming sound and flipped on the tv running the tips of his fingers along Tylers neck feeling his pulse under his skin. A comfort thing he had confessed one while high off of some druggie blood he'd gotten by mistake. Reminds me your still alive.   
"How do I fix it."  
"An apology is a good place to start."   
Tyler huffed at that pulling the blanket off the back of the couch and wrapping it around himself. If Brownie knew he was doing it to try and press Jamies scent into his nose he didn't mention it.  
"How do I apologize for acting like a tool?"  
"You would think you would be good at this by now seeing as you're a huge tool all the time." Tyler pressed his teeth against Brownies arm a bit hard enough to make him hiss out a laugh.  
"Dick"  
"Asshole"  
The contestant on the price is right was clapping like a seal and giggling obnoxiously. The clock in the kitchen was tick tick ticking even though it was perpetually stuck at 8:27 am. A crystal caught the light from the top of Tylers fridge.  
"I'll be back."  
"Holler if you need me." Brownie replied like he wasn't going to be listening in on the whole conversation anyway.  
Tyler grabbed the stones off the fridge and a flower from above the door and took the stairs up to the Benns apartment. He only hesitated a moment before knocking.  
Nothing happened and for a horrible moment he thought maybe they weren't going to answer when the door swung open and Jamie glared back at him. Jordie was at the counter watching too see if Jamie needed him like the defenseman he was.  
"Please don't send me away!" Tyler blurted feeling sick to his stomach again suddenly. "I'm sorry I'm an asshole. And I'm sorry I said ignorant things. I'm not a bigot I swear. And I'm sorry I'm a shitty person and a shitty wolf and I know I'm a lot of trouble but please don't send me away!"   
"Tyler!" Jamie cut in sounding startled. Big brown eyes no longer angry but conserned. "Tyler you're yelling calm down."  
Tyler was trembling again and his face flushed embarrassingly when he realized his eyes were watering dangerously close to becoming tears.  
"I'm sorry." He whispered again.  
Jamie sighed and rubbed at the back of his head. "Come in. I'll make us some tea and we can talk alright."  
Tyler followed Jamie in and sat at the table when Jamie motioned him that way. He would rather go to the living room and curl up under Jamie's blanket but he could understand why Jamie wouldn't want him there. "You have a problem with Witches?" Jamie asked pushing a cup of tea at Tyler and sitting across from him too far for Tyler to touch. Jamie normally stayed within arms length so Tyler could reach him easy. It was only now he was realizing the captain did it because he knew Tyler was a wolf.   
"No." Tyler replied looking down at his cup feeling so damn stupid. "I'm...Brownie is my best friend and he is a Vampire. I'm not a dick about people being supers."  
"It didnt seem that way to me earlier." Jamie replied leaning back in his chair. He didn't sound mad just maybe mildly annoyed.  
Tyler closed his eyes and tried to think how to explain. "I'm sorry."   
"Sorry doesn't mean anything if you're only saying it because you're scared I'm going to have you sent away."   
Tyler wanted to cry. He wanted to press up against Jamie and make him understand. "I wasn't born a super like you." Tyler started looking up at Jamie and glancing at the scilent Jordie beging them to understand. "I was forcibly turned and I know that's not an excuse but..." Tyler paused swallowing. "But I'm really really new to this whole supernatural thing and my whole life I've grown up being told supers were more powerful than me and I needed to be careful. Vampires would drink me dry and sirens would drown me and wolves would hunt me and witches would eat my heart." Jamie made a startled noise at that but Tyler pressed on. "And most the time people said these things as jokes but...Tylers voice wavered and he had to wipe furiously at his eyes. "But wolves did hunt me and I've been scared ever since."  
A hand landed on top of Tylers and he looked up. "You don't ever have to be scared of me and Jordie. We are always going to be on your side." Jamie said so earnestly it made Tylers heart clench and the next thing he knew he was throwing himself out of his seat into Jamies arms crowding him into the to small kitchen chair hugging him close feeling hickupy sobs pushing up his throat.   
Dispite his crushing weight Jamie held him close and Jordie patted at his head laughing.  
"That moon pull had got you all a emotional mess doesn't it." Jordie teased making Tyler give a wet laugh and pull back into his own seat to calm down. He was safe. He wants going anywhere and he hadn't irreversibly damaged his relationship with the Benns. He was going to be ok.  
"Besides who would eat your heart anyway?" Jordie joked turning to leave the room.  
A blood splattered face with too blue eyes crossed his mind.


	5. Chapter 5

"I'm hungry." Tyler announce walking into the room dropping his bag from practice on the floor and casually sidling up to Jordie to try and eyeball his food. "Get your own, furball." Jordie shot back slapping his hands away retreating from the kitchen to eat in peace, Tyler pouted giving Jamie his best puppy eyes. He had been practicing. "No." Jamie replied frowning.   
"His will is weak go in for the kill." Jason called from the livingroom where he was already laid out watching the tv.  
Tyler scooted closer and batted his eyes putting a hand on his stomach. "Jamie I'm wasting away! I'm a growing werewolf."  
"You're an asshole." Jamie muttered pushing his plate of noddles and chicken towards the other male who grabbed it up before Jamie could change his mind. Tyler was thin but it was a end of the season thin not a stress thin. Jamie would happily feed if it kept that sly grin on his face like he thought he was pulling on over on him.   
"You want to go to dinner with me tonight?" Tyler asked between bites glancing at Jamie before quickly looking away. "Just you and me?" His face had a light flush that looked good on him and his body was giving off a forced casualness that made Jamie's heart thump. He was nervous Jamie realized watching Tyler look everywhere but at him. What would Tyler have to be worried about?  Jamie wondered.   
They had been working on his acceptance of what happened to him and Tyler, though still refusing to meet with the local pack, was shifting voluntarily on full moons. Jamie was hoping he could convince him to take a run at greenbelt park on the coming moon. It was a bit of a drive almost into Denton but had a path Jamie could follow and trees Tyler could run through and even a little river to swim in if he felt like getting wet.  
An image of a dripping wet Tyler made Jamie flush and look away from the other man feeling guilty. Having 'thoughts' about things he had seen in the locker room was really not ok.  
The sound of a body falling off the couch followed by furious whispers came from the living room.  
"I uh-" Jamie started trying to keep his mind as blank as possible due to the mind reader he had forgotten about in the other room. "Yes?"  
"You're not sure?" Tyler teased looking a little nervous throwing his bowl in the sink before picking up Jamies box of rune stones. Tyler picked through the box before giving Jamie a shy grin and setting his Ehwaz stone in front of him. It meant movement, something was about to happen.   
After Tylers freak out he had approached Jamie asking him to teach him about his magic.  
'I want to learn.' Tyler had explained hands shoved awkwardly into his back pockets trying to look like he didn't care one way or the other. His lip chewing gave him away though. 'I don't actually know anything about what it means for you to be a witch so...I kinda want to learn about it- er you I guess. Its how Brownie taught me about vampires too.'   
Jamie raised an eyebrow and Tyler gave a nervous huff of air that could almost count as a laugh before placing down another stone. Uruz, but reversed. Jamie frowned at that wondering if Tyler put it upside down on purpose or if he just forgotten the rightway to do it. The reversed Uruz was cautioning to think before he acted or he could miss an opportunity. "Tyler?-" Jamie started but the wolf waved him off.  
"Just wait." He urged digging through the stones before picking his next one. Wunjo, joy. It meant something he'd been waiting on was going to happen. Jamie looked up at Tyler again who was busy rooting around for his next stone. The flush on his face had grown.  When he found what he was looking for he looked at Jamie and seemed to hesitate before nearly shoving it at him. Where the others he had placed in a neat line the Algiz rune was set closer to Jamie then the others. An obvious request of 'dont freak out'.  
He was still looking at Algiz wondering what it was that was happening that he needed to think about before acting and had been waiting for that might make him react badly when he saw it.   
Odin had been slid onto the table almost silently.   
New beginnings.  
Jamie didn't want to jump the gun but there were only two things Jamie was waiting on with Tyler one of which the wolf wasn't even aware of and would never come to pass.   
Jamie was getting the world's dumbest crush on the centermen.  
Jordie had nearly laughed himself sick when Jamie had awkwardly brought it up. 'You really know how to pick um Chubs.' He had joked shaking his head. Jordie wants wrong. Tyler showed absolutely zero intrest in settling down.  
For as much as Tyler hated to be touched by his teammates he picked up like it was his job. They never talked about it and Tyler never brought people to his place but he couldn't hid the hickeys in a locker room full of dudes.   
Jamies real consern, seeing as he accepted his intrest was better kept to himself was that Jason looked more and more displeased every time Tyler showed up with new marks.  
It took weeks, a pot of thyme tea for courage and Jamie hidding in the bathroom to burn a bay leaf where Jordie wouldn't see with 'let me be wrong' written on it before Jamie finally worked up the nerve to ask Demers about it.    
The defenseman had wrinkled his nose like he'd taken a bite of something foul. 'Please I have better taste then that.' He had scoffed when Jamie asked if he was jealous "He shouldn't be sleeping with all these people. He doesn't like it is almost like...habit. It doesn't make him happy." He refused to say any more on the topic though and Jamie was to afraid asking Tyler would make him pull away so he didn't press it.  
With the dating option out of the picture that only left finding out about Tylers changing.  
"Yes." Jamie said gently but seriously meeting Tylers eye making the wolf's face go flaming red.  
Suprised and joy were a good look on him.  
"Six?" He asked softly. "Reunion Tower?  
"Yes." Jamie said again giving Tyler a big grin.   
Tyler grinned back and if he had his tail it would have been thumping he looked so pleased setting the box on the table and backing towards the door. "Ok I'm gonna...go make a call...for reservations...and to Brownie. I will uh-see you at six."  
"Okay. Bye Tyler." Jamie replied trying to hold back his smile when Tyler gave him a dorky wave and slipped out of the apartment.  
Slow clapping started from the living room and Jamie rolled his eyes but felt his face burning anyway.   "Fuck off." He snapped.   
Jason came into the room leaning casually against the doorframe looking over the runes left out. "Nice job Romeo."  
"Please don't refer to tragedies when talking about my evening Jason, seriously." The telepath gave him a look and Jamie resisted beating his head against the wall. Jamie looked at the runes again. "Are you trying to tell me I'm reading this wrong?"  
"You're the witch Jamie. You know how to read the runes. I'm just telling you to be careful. There is more on his mind then there is on yours."   
"Cryptic." Jordie yelled from the living room.  
Jordie had taken it upon himself to try and teach Jason to be more socially responsible with his gift. Basically that meant if he was going to use it he had to share what he learned.   
Jamie figured Jordie wanted in on the gossip more than he was trying to teach Jason to be less of a dick but whatever he wasn't getting involved with their weird friendship.  
Jason huffed in Jordies direction and rolled his eyes. "That's all I got. Our puppy has got a part of his mind locked up real tight. The only way I could even try and get in would be to touch him and you know how Tyler is about casual contact.- Yes captain with everyone but you." Jason added reading Jamie easily and making him feel pleased.  
"So Tyler does want in Jamies pants?" Jordie asked finishing off his lunch and going for a beer.   
"Obviously, a blind human on the moon could tell you Tyler wants into Jamie's pants. You don't have to be a mind reader for that."  
"Jason!" Jamie exclaimed feeling embarrassed and a little cagey. Jason and Jordie were the only ones who knew he maybe would like to date their local werewolf. He didnt want to rush things. Or have them change at all really. He just wanted Tyler to be happy and healthy and if that meant keeping his own feelings in check he could do that...probably with the help of a few charms.  
"Dude its true its just that...Segs mind is...divided almost. There is pre attack and post attack." Jason tried to explain squinting the way he did when he was remembering the inside of someone's head. Jamie's felt himself go still. Tyler hadn't gotten any better? All the time they spent working on him accepting himself was for nothing? A wave of guilt crushed over him and he had to take a minute to remind himself what happened to Tyler wasn't his fault he could only try and help the other man get better but he couldn't force it to happen not even with all the magic in the world.   
"Hey!" Jason snapped kicking Jamie in the shin making him jerk. "This IS better. He used to think of it as human death and after human death. He is getting better it's just going to take time." Jason grabbed a beer for himself and passed one to Jamie.  The cold felt good on his skin. His nerves had him feeling clammy and hot at the same time. It was the worst.   
"He may never fully adjust to being a wolf, man. He was a human for most of his life, something we have never been and as much as we tell him he is still himself and being a supernatural is amazing he still remembers life before it got complicated. He thinks we are biased. How could we know being supernatural is better than being human you know."   
"Why are you telling me this?" Jamie asked feeling tired. He had the sudden need to burn sage to get the negative energy out of his apartment. But sage wouldn't make Jason leave and he was the source of his bad mood so it wasn't really worth the effort. He eye balled the bundle set above the sink anyway. Its not like the smudging could hurt.  
"Because his thoughts on you are pressed right up against his pre attack bubble."  
Jamie blinked snapping back to focus on the task at hand frowning. He wasn't sure what the significance of memory placement was and Jason dramatically threw his hands to the sky like Jamie was being deliberately obtuse. "His good memories Jamie, he keeps you next to his good memories." Jamie flushed bright red and Jason grinned before going serious again. "He wants more from you than just a conversation just be ready for whatever bomb he is about to drop. You are the bridge between his past and the now in his brain. Seriously whatever it is he tells you don't freak out he is genuinely worried it's going to change everything."   
"No pressure." Jordie said patting Jamie on the shoulder as he walked by.   
"I hate both of you." Jamie muttered thunking his head to the table. 

Reunion Tower was a rotating restaurant in down town Dallas with floor to ceiling windows at the top of a 50 story building. It had amazing views and fantastic food and was guaranteed to cost at least hundred per person if drinks and appetizers were involved.  
Totally worth it to see Tyler in one of his 'going out' suits though. Jamie thought.   
The wolf was dressed well looking sharp and a touch pretentious but it worked for him giving off an overall charming appeal given the way he was grinning out the window like a child.   
"How is Dallas treating you?" Jamie asked grasping for a topic. Tyler had been strangely quiet on the way over all shy glances and coy smiles. He was buzzing with an over abundance of energy that was practically making Jamies own skin humm. Tyler was normally only like this after a hard fought win or drinks with Brownie.   
"Good. It's real good." Tyler answered nodding a little too himself like he was really thinking the question over. "I'm really getting along with the team and setting in better than I could have hoped. Mostly that's thanks to you I think." He added with a smiling picking up his drink and giving a mock toast.   
Jamie gave a self depreciating laugh and shook his head. "That's all you Ty, the team would have loved you even if I hated your guts."  
"Good to know." He laughed looking down at his food and fidgeting. Tyler got the wild salmon, Jamie the bone in pork chop.  
He wondered if Tyler had always liked fish or if it was a wolf thing.  Regular wolves ate fish when they migrated so they wouldn't have to expend a lot of energy trying to hunt big game and Tyler had the tendency to choose fish when they were on roadies. He could ask but Tyler still clammed up sometimes if he realized he was doing something he wouldn't have done as a human. Not really the way Jamie wanted to spend his evening.  
"So uh...I want to talk to you about something." Tyler said chewing at his lip alittle before forcing himself still. His energy made the hair on James arm stand on end. "I...the wolf and me...we..." Tyler huffed in frustration rubbing a hand through his hair. "I want you to be a part of my pack." He blurted out looking half angry and half terrified.   
The huming against his skin was becoming more insistent.  
Jamie blinked and grinned, partially wanting to fall under the table and laugh himself sick and partially wanting to drag Tyler in for a hug and tell him how brave he was being.  
 His mother was never going to let him hear the end of this. Jamie refused to be a part off a coven in Dallas because he was afraid of being traded but now here he was joining a pack where only one of the wolves even lived in state and they could just as easily be traded away as he could leaving him even more heart broken than breaking off from a coven would.   
"Is this even a question Segs?" Jamie teased feeling weightless. Tyler was right to give him a wunjo rune. His own happiness was almost overwhelming. Tyler wanted to stay in Dallas, make it his home. He was nesting! Jamie took a moment to look at Tyler. Really just look at him and realized how many of those sharpened edges Tyler used to walk around with had smoothed. His aura was no longer that horrifying grey he used to carry with him but a soothing mix of greens, blues, white. There were flashes of grey almost like solar flairs that spiderwebbed their way across his aura but it was nothing like before. He was healthier now. Relaxed in his own skin.   
Tyler flushed at that looking worried still. "I was thinking of Jordie too. Jason if he wants. Peverley."   
"Peverley?" Jamie asked surprised. Rich Peverley was a human who had come with Tyler from Boston. All around a good guy but Jamie really didn't see much of him.   
Tyler nodded playing with the pendant under his shirt. Jamie would swear he had only ever felt more awkward as when he thrusted the rhodochrosite pendant at Tyler and half demanded he wear it when he had to call up Jonathan Toews to get it.  
The crystal promoted mental healing from traumatic events and Andee Toews, Jonathans mother had some of the best crystals in the world.   
Jonathan himself was a part of the Blackhawks pack and practiced lay line magic. Lay line magic was intimating most witches. There was a very easy ability to go of the rails tapping into that much power and Jonathan was a substantial witch even without it, plus he had a boost from being a part of a pack.  
His Alpha was one of the teammates wives, Abby Sharp if Jamie rembered correctly and she had one of the largest wolf packs in the league. Jamie had tried to convince Tyler to talk with he back in the beginning and the wolf had flipped and refused to speek to Jamie for a week.  
Regardless of his own timidness around the other captain if he were going to offer Tyler stones to heal he wanted them from the best. Jonathan had invited him to his condo where the pendant was sitting on the table waiting but so was a one Andree Toews. He'd considered turning around and walking out but the rose colored stone was right there and he could feel how much magic she had worked into it from his spot in the doorway. Andree was just add intimidating as Jonathan was.   
After a stilted conversation about Tyler and his needs where he stubbornly refused to give the wolfs name Andree and Jonathan had a quick conversation in french that left both of them frowning Andree gave him the pendant free of cost. 'You need it more than I do sweet boy.' She had replied when he had tried to protests.  
"We have lunch just the two of us at least once a week. Pev's is a good guy. A good friend...I told him I was a werewolf last week." Tyler replied getting Jamie's thoughts back on track.  
His stomach swooped. Tyler didn't ever talk about being a Were with anyone outside of other supernaturals. This was huge. "What did he say." Jamie whispered.   
Tuler grinned looking a little giddy dropping the stone so it thumped against his chest. "Okay. He just shrugged and said... okay like he wasn't sure why it even mattered. I-I'm not gonna lie I'm still a little 'whoa' about it you know."  
Jamie laughed at that relaxing back into his seat wondering when exactly he had leaned so far forward. "That's great. That really really great."   
Tyler smiled back before getting his nervous edge back. "I've been asking around. My... circumstances aren't really normal you know...my Alpha having an alpha and all."  
"You've been taking to other packs?" Jamie asked, his eyes felt comically wide. Tyler was really throwing him for a loop he had reacted so badly last time Jamie suggested it.  
He shrugged and picked up his fork like he was going to pick at his food again but hesitated.  "I'm going to talk to him...we don't talk much. He tries but-" he shrugged again. "It was hard for me. I never really stopped to think about how it might be for him."  
Jamie held his breath. This was it. He was going to find out who Tylers alpha was. He was going to find out what happened and the puzzle would finally be complete. He would finally figure out the best way to help Tyler cope.   
Tyler cleared his throat. "If I make you guys a part of my pack he would feel it but... because I'm the one making the offering he wouldn't be your alpha. We for all intents and purposes would be a pack without an alpha which is uncommon but not unheard of. It really wouldn't matter to much anyway because I'm the only wolf anyway. He shouldn't care what I do but I have to talk to him first to make sure."  
"Who-"Jamie asked softly and Tyler winced.   
"I can't tell you that." He replied shaking his head.   
"If you tell me we could go see him together. I could tell him how well you're doing. What a good idea this is."  
"Jamie." Tyler cut in looking upset. Jamie froze again afraid he was about to lose the moment. The buzzing energy from the wolf was becoming a pressure if it kept up Jamie was going to have to put up a mental block. "You don't understand I CAN'T tell you who my alpha is. You would try to kill him."  
Jamie jerked at that.  His chair making a high pitched screech against the floor making them both wince. "Tyler! I know your birth into the supernatural was violent but you have to know supers aren't really like that! It's not like the movies we don't go running around murdering each other like it's nothing! We're not sociopaths! I have never...I've even never hurt someone ever. I wouldn't-"  
"Jamie..." Tyler cut in again with a whisper placing a hand on top on his. His palm was too warm even for a wolf and he looked tired and mildly sick. The joy from before completely gone leaving only despair behind.    
"My alpha is a Demon."


	6. Chapter 6

Jamie's big eager eyes lost some of their light at Tylers confession. He leaned back in his chair and rubbed the bridge of his nose like he had a headache. "Tyler..." he started voice sounding strained. "Do you have a concussion?"  
He blinked at that startled and did a quick inventory of how he was feeling. He was fine, even the perpetual ache that seemed to make his bones feel like they were always grinding since he'd been changed was gone. "No." He replied frowning. "What does that have to do with-"  
Jamie waved over their waiter politely asking for the check and gave Tyler a hush up look that made him snap his jaw shut.   
"Jamie-"   
"I'm taking you to see the trainers." Jamie cut in leaving a wad of cash with the bill fold the waiter brought back and stood.   
Tyler blinked wondering how his evening had gotten so derailed. "I was paying." He whispered feeling adrift getting up and trotting after Jamie who was half way to the elevator already. "I have no idea what is happening right now."  
"Please tell me you mean your Alpha is a...'that' in a figurative sense of the word." Jamie finally said looking at Tyler head on making him shrink down a little like he could hid from that angry look.   
"No?" Tyler tried and it just made the witch look more aggravated.   
"You're not sure?" He asked before stalking towards the velet, Tyler followed at a slower pace wondering if there was any way he could have had this conversation without bringing up his Alpha's lineage. He handed over the ticket and sighed. No not really, he couldn't build his own pack without them knowing the baggage he came with.  "I am sure."   
"Quiet." Jamie snapped at him looking less frustrated now and more worried. He took the keys from the valet and ushered Tyler into the passenger seat of his own car.   
"Seriously Jamie what is happening right now."  
"Im taking you to the trainers, and if you don't have some type of brain trauma then I'm taking you to a psychiatrist because...because I can deal with a lot of shit but I'm not qualified to help with-with delusions."  
Tylers heart ached at the accusation. Maybe he was doing this wrong. He had been warned. 'You can't tell any what I am.' His Alpha whispered looking at him like he was scared too. Like his life was changing same as Tylers was and they were going to have to both figure it out alone.  'They won't...people won't understand.'  
"Jamie pull over...Jamie pull the god damn car over!"   
The captain pulled into the airline center parking lot with a sharp jerk of the wheel throwing the car in park so he could glare furiously out the window. "I'm not...lying and I'm not delusional. I know my Alpha I know what I saw the night I was attacked."  
"Tyler..." Jamie said sounding wounded. Tylers palms were sweating and his heart was beating too hard like it was the third and they were down by two. "Demons haven't been on this plane sense the dark ages. They are bedtime stories, things to frighten children. You have to know this. They cover it in supernatural studies in school."  
"I know what they teach us! Supernaturals and humans waged war on the demons banashing them. None survived. But..." his hands were shaking. It was dark out, the arena softly lit but no other cars were around. He could scream here and no one would hear him. "The one who changed me...he hunted me. Bit my leg and watched me run through a maze of alleyways. He would corral me the way he wanted me to go,  let me get close to a main street and then force me back." Tyler could feel the panic fluttering at the back of his throat, he could hear the sound his sneakers made against the pavement. The sickening wet suction inside his left shoe from the blood pooling in it. "I thought he was going to kill me...he had gotten bored had me pinned down and was digging into my hip" he could still feel the way it popped under the wolf's powerful jaws how the man had laughed changing to lick and nip at the wound in his human form enjoying watching Tyler shiver and cry. The quiet  from Jamie's side of the car was nearly deafening.   
"He came then. When I was at my last,  just hoping to die faster...He was so fast...one second he was standing in the mouth of the ally the next he had thrown himself at..." Tyler paused again feeling the name roll around in his mouth. He wondered if he could say it aloud. He hadn't since that day. The thought made his stomach roll and he had to close his eyes against the wave of nausea. "He tackled the wolf off of me. I was bleeding out and terrified but I watched them struggle and I remember thinking a human shouldn't be able to be holding his own like that but he was. They fought and my Alpha got his little dull teeth around the wolf's throat and bit down until his skin tore away." Tyler put his hand on the door handle and had to take some deep breathes. He could see skin tear away and the blood splatter everywhere. It made the snow around them melt and his Alpha sat a straide the writhing werewolfs body looking at it like he was seeing through it. Tyler watched transfixed as those hands he had previously gushed embarrassingly about to the press, tapped a beat with the tip of a pointer finger against the chest on the gurgling dieing werewolf. "I hear you." He purred and Tylers body went numb. That was not a human voice. It sounded like what caves would sound like if they could talk, old and with unfathomable depth. "My Alpha...pressed down on the wolf's chest with his bare hands until it cracked under his palms." Bile rose up his throat; wonder had filled those big blue eyes. Like he couldn't believe the present he had just opened. Joy in his smile. "He dug the heart out. He ate it while it was still beating...My maker screamed, he was still alive when my Alpha started eating." Nope he wasn't going to make it. Tyler shoved the door open and puked up everything in his stomach. The cold air felt like a slap the the face but at least he could breathe.   
Someone was petting his face wipping sweat and tears away, he hadn't realized he'd started crying. "I'm sorry." Jamie whispered over and over. "Im so sorry."  
"I thought he was going to eat my heart too." Tyler confessed locking eyes with Jamie. He was crying too. Opps. "This evening really isn't going the way I planned." He joked shivering at the cold now that he wasn't actively sweating any more.   
"Fuck." Jamie cursed helping Tyler sit back upright in the car and going around to his own side. "I'm taking us home ok." Tyler nodded pressing his forehead against the window keeping his eyes closed.   
People often joked about his Alpha about looking small, but sitting on the dead body covered in tacky fresh red blood he had never seemed bigger to Tyler. He blinked looking confused when the heart was gone and the werewolf had finally stilled. Tyler remembered thinking it was so quiet. He could here the snow crunch under his Alpha's boots as he came towards him. "Tyler...we should get you home." He said voice back to normal. Like he hadn't savagely devoured a human heart, like he wasn't sticky with blood and dripping it all over the place. Like his arms weren't covered in bits of muscle and chucks of flesh.   
It started snowing, big fat flakes that stuck to everything. Even with the gore covering the lower half his face the snow in his curls and eyelashes made him look almost innocent again.   
"Come on Tyler." Jamie coaxed. "We're home."   
Tyler got out of the car and followed Jamie to his apartment. He wondered again how this had happened. How could he have let this evening get so out of hand. The Benns apartment was empty. No sign of Jason or Jordie. Tyler dropped down onto the couch feeling strangely distant from everything around him. Jamie was rushing around turning on every light in the apartment. "The lights don't keep the boogeyman at bay Jamie." He teased.   
"Come on." Jamie replied ignoring him in favor of tugging him to his feet and down the hall.   
Jamie's room was both nothing and exactly like Tyler had imagined it. Simple furnishings and soothing blue walls. There were more things for readings in his room than in the rest of the house. A deck of tarot cards stacked on the desk. A box of runes that seemed to be carved into little pog shaped peices of wood. A crystal pendulum hanging in the corner. A scrying bowl on top of his dresser.  
"I've always wanted to come in here." Tyler confessed sitting on the edge of the bed and inhaling. It was like Jamie's scent concentrated. It soothed a wild part of his mind making the rest of his panic from earlier melt away. Herbs and static. He could feel Brownie sending him consern through their bond. He inhaled deeply again and sent back the calm he was feeling. Brownie responded with happiness. Their Alpha was perking up at the back of his mind. Questioning. He normally stayed quiet never sending anything over his end of the bond and keeping his own emotions so in check Tyler rairly even realized he was there. "I'm fine." He said aloud pushing his content feelings back at him. His Alpha seemed startled a moment and Tyler felt bad, he kept his Alpha pretty cut off most times, his Alpha rewarded him for the trust with a heavy wave of pleasure at Tyler. It was like being covered by laundry right out of the dryer. Warm and comforting but not something he did in front of company.   
He grinned falling back bonelessly on the bed. Jamie was burning incense and the pretty pink stone he gave him was huming pleasantly warm against his chest.   
Tyler kicked off his shoes clumsily and burried his face into Jamies pillows.   
He felt drunk...no he felt more than drunk he felt high. He took a deep breath in and shivered. It was like Jamie was in him lungs.   
"Tyler..."  
Tyler rolled over and lulled his head to the side to look at Jamie. "Hey." He greeted smiling.   
"Are you...alright?" Jamie asked looking concerned.   
"Yeah. Yeah I really good." All his bones felt loss in their sockets. He wished his pack was here. He'd only ever curled up with Brownie and his Alpha separately. Both instances were amazing but if he could get them both here, with Jamie...oh man it would be amazing. Maybe he could get Jason and Jordie and Pevs here too. "Jamie come lay with me." Tyler whined. He sent his question to Brownie and his Alpha and he got laughter from his packmate and a gentle 926 miles from his Alpha. They were both to far too come tonight.   
"I don't think you're alright Tyler your acting kinda weird. I think your having a mental break."   
Tyler laughed at that but Jamie actually looked nervous so Tyler smiled at him big and wide. "I'm just...really happy you're here. You're gonna be in my pack right? My alpha always calls me and Brownie litter mates cause me look alike I guess. Your way broader than me but I want you to be my litter mate too."  
Jamie knelt by the edge of the bed and ran a hand threw Tylers hair. It reminded him off the night he changed. After his Alpha bathed him and bandaged him he had sat next to his bed and pet him like this until he fell asleep. "We're gonna get this whole Alpha thing straightened out first but after that, I'll be your pack mate." Tyler preened at that sparks of joy dancing down his bonds and he got answering joy in return. It was like a endless loop of happiness bouncing around under his skin. He inhaled again this time pressing his nose right into Jamie's skin on his wrist. He smiled again and knew his teeth had to be sharper. Even the wolf was happy tonight. 

"Jamie you got him scent high!" Jason laughed. Jamie panicked when Tyler didn't come down from his sudden onset giddiness and called Jordie for help which of course brought Jason. Tyler grinned drowsily at them from his spot on Jamies bed clutching a pillow to his chest and blankets wrapped around his legs.   
"I dont know what that means!" Jamie snapped and Jason waved at Tyler who just grinned wider and gave a lazy open and close of his fingers in return.   
"It means you have been conditioning Tyler to find your scent safe and protective since the day he moved here and then you dumped him in a room where all that is contained and his little wolf nose couldn't take it and bam instant bliss!" Jason looked absolutely gleeful and Jamie regretted ever calling his brother who was to busy laughing in the hallway to be any help at all.   
"He is getting mad feedback from his pack right now too so it's like...super bliss. Its like if you were rubbing a dog's belly and told him he was a good boy at the same time."  
"Not a dog assface!" Tyler called from the bed trying to look indignant but smiling anyway. "I'm a wolf...ahwooo."  
Jason busted up and Jamie sighed rubbing at his forehead. He couldn't do anything right. "Alright get out. He will sleep it off right?"   
"Yeah, yeah he will be fine." Jordie confirmed peeking at Tyler over Jamies shoulder. The wolf looked like he was drifting to sleep but he had looked that way earlier before Jordie and Jason had gotten there too so he wasn't putting much stock in it.   
"Jordie!" Tyler hollered making Jamie wince and want to beat his head against the door. "Jordie be in my pack ok!"  
"Sure man." Jordie replied with a grin and Tyler let out a real howl this time. "Tyler please someone is gonna call the cops you keep that up!" Jamie begged and Tyler just laughed.   
"My pack is getting big." He whispered at the ceiling looking awed. He looked almost cute until he started chewing on the end of Jamie's pillow like a puppy.  
Jamie shoved Jason and Jordie out of his room and shut the door. They could go and laugh somewhere else he was done. "Alright beat it. I just wanted to make sure he wasn't having some type of mental break."  
"Did he have a reason to?" Jordie asked looking concerned under his beard. Jason raised an eyebrow at that and Jamie sighed. There was no way he was keeping it a secret. Not with his brother and the mind reading terror here.   
"Tyler seems to think his Alpha is a... demon."  
"Like he's a dick or something?" Jordie asked frowning but Jason's eyebrows were already up to his hairline. He must have pulled the memory from Jamie's mind.  
"He thinks he is a real Demon? Like a real real Demon?" He asked all fun and games from earlier gone.   
"Yes!" Jamie replied throwing his hands in the air.   
The went quiet before Jordie spoke up so soft he almost missed it. "What if he is?"  
"No..." Jamie said shaking his head. "No demons haven't been alive on this plane in centuries. It's just not possible! And if it is possible it damn well better be happening to someone else!"   
"He said it ate the heart." Jason added on quietly. He had his arms wrapped around his middle like he had suddenly gotten cold.  
"Lots of things eat hearts!"  
"Name one thing that stays in a human form that eats a still beating heart Jamie!" Jason snapped.   
Old things ate hearts.  
Things that went bump in the night and sent other supernaturals running.  
Things from before the fall of demons.  
Things that made Humans panic and start killing supernaturals. "We have to find out who it is...maybe we're wrong. Maybe Tyler remembered wrong."  
But maybe he wasn't...


	7. Chapter 7

Tyler groaned into his eggs at the table.

Brownie was laughing distantly behind his eyes and Jordie was laughing at him in front of his face. "Huuuung ovvva!" Jordie sing songed at him. And Tyler moaned pitiful again pressing his eye sockets into his palms.

"What did I do to deserve this." Tyler whined dropping his arms to the table with a thump. "I did not drink enough last night to feel this horrible! My head is coming undone."  
Jordie was snickering. Tyler wished Jamie hadn't had to go to a meeting with the coaching staff that morning. He would defend Tyler from his heinous bushy bearded brother.

"Jamie got you scent high!" Jordie chirped patting Tyler on his back. "Your just coming back down now it's ok champ you will be alright."

 "The fuck is scent high?" Tyler asked as shoving Jordies hands away. "Is that a witch thing?"

"Nope!" Jordie replied popping the p gleefully. "Werewolf thing. Basically Jamie's manly man smell shorted out your puppy brain and made you go loopy." 

"That...doesn't seem right." Tyler hedged. "I smell Jamie all the time. I smell you all the time. I smell lots of people all the time and don't. Go all...hazy like that."

"Right but other people aren't your almost packmates. Smelling Jamie regularly is like... being in a room with smokers,  maybe you get a little contact high but more than likely not, where being in Jamie's  room was like...shot gunning a few beers and then taking a huge rip from some grade A hydro with a killer keefe topper." Tyler raised an eyebrow at that and Jordie grinned. "Or so I'm told."

"Is that going to happen all the time because don't get me wrong that felt amazing last night but my head is staging a revolt right now."

Jordie shrugged. "I dont think so otherwise wolves everywhere would be walking around all blitzed out of their minds all the time. You don't have anyone to ask?" Jordie asked dropping a notebook on the table and flipping through it. The pages were filled with carful handwriting and detailed images drawn out. Some of the herbs Tyler had seen around the apartment others of moon phases or the outline of a chalk circle. 

The younger Benn was trying to be leading so he could ask about Tylers Alpha. Jamie most have told him what Tyler said last night. He must know Tylers Alpha wasn't a wolf either so he couldn't help with questions on scent highs or why he had a sudden need to chew on pucks or if he should take a bath in his wolf skin to clean his fur every once in a while. 

Tyler didn't want to go over this with him this early in the morning though. Or you know at all seeing a Jamie already thought he was nuts. "Who's book is that?" He asked looking at the pages upside-down not even being discreet discreet about changing the topic.

"Mine."

"Yeah but who wrote it." Tyler tried again tilting his head to get a better view. 

"I did." Jordie replied again giving Tyler a smile that flashed all his teeth. 'A challenge!' The wolf howled in his mind. 'He wants to play.' It insisted when Tyler forced himself to stay seated and not tackle Jordie to the ground and chew on his ears. "That's bull shit." Tyler muttered reaching for the book only to get his hands slapped away. "You can't draw that good." Jordie just laughed and flipped to another page before making a pleased humming sound tapping the page and going to get a pot from his 'only for magic' supply. 

"What's Witch Hazel?" Tyler asked flipping the book around so he could see it fully. There was a drawing of some type of shrub with weird string looking flower pedals and a small list next to it.

•1/2 pound bark  
•Distilled water  (2 inches above bark)  
•Pure grain alcohol  (vodka!)

"It helps with bruising, swelling, cuts that kind of thing. I make it for games and my stock is running low." Jordie replied setting up his pot and going to get jugs of water out of the pantry."So are we going to talk about your Alpha or not?" Jordie asked turning around to brace his butt against the counter and cross his arms across his chest after setting the jugs next to the stove. He was going for stern but Tyler used to play under Chara Jordie didn't have anything on him. 

"Are we going to talk about why you smell like Daddy all the time lately or-"

Jordie's face went hot red high up on his checks and the tips of his ears and he flipped back around to dig through his cabinet of jars full of different dried out plants. "Touche." He called over his shoulder and Tyler grinned. 

"Don't be embarrassed J! Everyone has a threesomes with a puck bunny and their bestie. I'm sure it was no big deal. Not awkward now at all."

"I will hex you." Jordie threatened.

Tyler laughed again before looking at his phone. He needed to call his Alpha and talk to him about building his pack. His bonds were getting stronger. He could feel them sparking up in the back of his mind like he was pressing 9volt battery to his tounge. It was annoying. He wanted them solid like his one with Brownie. Nothing creepy about wanting a constant contact with his people. Nope not at all. 

"I'm going to head home. I will see you at tonight's game." Tyler decided pocketing his phone and looking for his shoes. 

"Take your eggs. Jamie finds out you didn't eat them he is going to make his sad face at me.  You know I hate the sad face." 

"I will eat the damn eggs." Tyler yelled picking up the whole plate and taking it with him out the door. He waited to make the call until he was up in his own apartment with the door locked behind him.

He shoveled some eggs into his own mouth while the phone rang half hoping he just didn't pick up. 

"Ello?" He sounded chipper. His Alpha always sounded chipper unless he was talking to Tyler.  
"Hey...It's me, do you have a minute." Some noise fadded in the background and the sound of a door shutting quickly followed. 

"What happened? Are you alright?" The cheer was gone again and Tyler had to close his eyes against the guilt. He had only caused his Alpha greif up to this point. 

"I'm fine. I wanted to talk to you...about maybe growing my pack a bit."

"Tyler..." he replied sounding worn out and sad. "We talked about this." 

"I can't be alone forever!" Tyler cut in. "You have a pack. You have everything I want and I'm stuck here with nothing! They're good people. I picked good people!"

"Your idea of good people is Brad Marchand." His Alpha snapped and the wolf in him rolled in discomfort. They both went quiet and Tyler hated the way his eyes burned.   
"Ty...I'm sorry ok. It's just complicated puppy if you bond with them, they will know about me and...I'm not ready to leave yet."

"I already told them." Silence was his answer before anger slammed across the bond. Not anger but fury so hot it felt like fire under his skin followed by fear. His Alpha was suddenly deathly afraid and not even the anger was enough to drown it out. 

"Who." The voice sent chills down Tylers spine. It sounded like glass being ground between rocks. Like if you touched it the shards would split you open and be so small you would never be able to get them out. 

It was on the tip of his tounge. Jamie's name was right there. The fear and the rage and the power were chocking him even from states away. It was crushing him like they were in a room together. Like his Alpha was looking him in the eye demanding an answer.  Tyler wasn't sure when he had collapsed to his knees but the hyperventilating was making his chest burn. 

If he told would his Alpha kill Jamie? Would he fly down and eat the witches heart out of his chest to keep his secret hidden. 

His Alpha wouldn't leave this plane. Not without a fight. 

Tyler hit the call end button. Holy shit. He had to scramble to the bathroom to puke. His Alpha started crying. He could feel it like a storm in his mind. His own hickuping sobs matched up until he wasn't sure who was crying harder. Tyler tried to send his Alpha an apology. He hadn't meant to make him so upset but the wall between them slammed down so hard it made Tylers teeth ache. He was being cut off.

His instincts were telling him to check on his Alpha, make sure he was alright make him stop crying like it was the end of the world. His human side was screaming at him to lock himself in the bathroom and never come out because he'd fucked up. He had been warned. Don't tell anyone. His Alpha had said. He'd done the one thing his Alpha made him swear he wouldn't. 

The crying in his head was bordering on hysterical. Where Tylers had died down a little after he was pushed out some the echoing feeling of his Alpha's had only kicked up a notch. The wall he had set up was enough to keep Tyler from communicating with his Alpha but not nearly enough to keep Tyler from hearing him. 

Tyler had to take a few steadying breaths before he went to get his phone. 

He stared at it. He didnt know how to help.  All he did was make things worse. What if he made it worse again.   
He needed someone else.  He couldn't do this on his own. He wasn't an alpha he was a human who got caught up in some crazy mistake the universe made. He couldn't make anyone happy anymore. 

The phone was ringing before he could second guess it. "Jamie?"

 

Jamie's phone was buzzing away in his pocket loud enough that Ruff gave him a look. He smiled apologetically and looked at the caller ID. "Uh-" 

"Go on." Coach waved him off. "I was wrapping up anyway." Jamie shot him another sheepish smile before ducking out of the room. 

"Jamie?" The voice on the other end wabbled dangerously.

"Ty? Whats wrong?" Jamie asked pace quickening towards the parking lot.

"I fucked up." Definitely crying Jamie thought heart pounding. It was bearly noon! What kind of trouble could he have gotten into before noon when he had left him worth Jordie. 

"Are you ok? Is Jordie ok?"

"I told him I told you! He's mad. Like really mad!" Whatever Tyler was going to say next was cut off by a low moan. "He wont calm down." He sobbed. "I made him cry! I can hear him crying."

"Tyler I dont know what your-"

"My Alpha!"

Jamie climbed into his car. "Where are you?" He asked starting the engine and tearing out of the parking lot. His only reply was a high pitched whining. "Tyler!" Jamie snapped slamming his hand against the wheel. "Where are you?!"

"Home. I'm home." 

"I'm going to be there in ten minutes. Ok. Everything is going to be fine. I promise." Jamie hoped it off all the promises he'd ever made this was one he could keep. 

How Jamie got back to the apartment without getting a ticket was beyond him but by the time he ran up the stairs two at a time to Tylers place he was panting like he'd done bag skates the whole way. 

"Tyler!" He yelled kicking the door shut behind him. The wolf's line had gone quiet making Jamie's heart spike in fear. "Tyler where are you?" Whining came from the back of the apartment. Jamie felt like his heart was in his throat when he saw Tylers phone lying in the hallway between the bedroom and bath. He opening his mouth to call out again before he heard the whining again. High pitched and close.  He pushed open Tylers door and slowly eased into the room.

The closet was open, clothes spilling out across the floor along with shoes and towels from the bathroom that hadn't been hung to dry. The only thing that seemed to have any care in the room was the pictures sitting on Tylers dresser. They had grown since Jamie had been in the room last. Tyler lifting the cup, Tyler and Brownie young and in hockey gear  followed by them older wrestling in a kitchen in bathing suits and backwards caps those were old. Probably one of the first things Tyler had put up in his new place. A picture of Jordie and Jamie laughing over something in their kitchen was new though, he hadn't realized Tyler had even taken a photo at the time. There was a group photo of the Stats out on the ice. A shot of Boston up on the wall with a ring tired next to it. He had been bitter for a long time after the trade it was good to see him moving on from that. Tyler and Jason at a golf coarse in ridiculous socks and crazy colored shorts was jammed in next to Tyler and Rich in Bruins jerseys. 

The last phone was on the nightstand away from the others. Jamie rembered this one. In way the day after a full moon Jamie was on the couch minding his own business flipping through tv channels when Tyler had flopped over the side of the couch a crushing weight of looselimbs and begging for attention as he was prone to after moons. 'Selfie' he demand half laying on top of Jamie stretching his arms above him and grinning. Jaime was trying to look disapproving but had landed closet to unbearably fond. The too honest look on his own face made Jamie feel edgy and nervous. There was no way anyone else looking at that picture wouldn't be able to tell how he felt about Tyler. Tyler who was obliviously grinning at the camera with too many teeth in his mouth, his eyes unnaturally shining and his ears just a touch to pointed. 

Jamie remembered how relaxed Tyler had been that day. Walking around the apartment  half wolfed out testing his body to see how far he could shift partially without triggering a whole shift. It had been a good day. 

Whimpering caught Jamie's attention again making him look over the room slowly before he frowned getting down on the floor and looking under the bed. 

Tyler was pressed into a corner.

"Oh Tyler." He whispered.

The wolf peered at him from behind his tail. "I'm sorry. I'm here now ok. Come on out." He beckoned reaching under the bed to offer him a hand. The wolf didn't move. He whined hidding his snout under his tail and tried to press more of his hulking body into the corner.

"Tyler, please. I'm too big I can't fit under there with you." Tyler snarled at him bearing teeth so suddenly it made Jamie jerk back. Tyler snapped his jaws in warning. 

He was shivering. Hidding in a makeshift den. Terrified of even Jamie in a way he hadn't been since his first day of the plane in Dallas. 

They looked at each other a moment before Jamie pushed himself up right and walked back out to the hall. Tylers phone was still there connected to his last call with Jamie. He picked it up and ended it making it go back to its home screen before he paused. He could look at Tylers call log. He could see who Tylers alpha was. His finger hovered over the call log key. 

It would be awful invasion of privacy. He really shouldn't look. 

Tylers crying in the other room was a horrible mix of animal and human vocals that meant he was trying to shift back but wasn't emotionally about to pull it off. 

He clicked the button.

The name that stared back at him was not what he was expecting.

He was going to have to get a hold of Jonathan Toews again. 

Jamie pocketed the phone and got spare blankets out of the linen closet before going back to Tyler's room and dropping them all over the floor. He settled himself in on his stomach, resting his head against his arm so he was looking under the bed with the other stretched out in front of him. "I know your scared right now so I'm just gonna wait here until your ready to come out ok. Just take your time. No rush."

Tyler didn't move. 

Jamie hummed a relaxation song his mother would sing when he and Jordie were children. He couldn't recall all the words but the tune was deep and gentle vibrating off the wooden floors making them feel warm.  Tyler kept up a low level growl going for nearly half an hour before it cut out and he just watched Jamie warily. 

The captain had changed songs to one about better days. His mother was able to heal scrapped knees and too cold fingers with the song. She had a gift for wrapping her magic in words. It was another fourty five minutes before Tyler padded his way forward just enough to sneak his snout under Jamie's outstretched fingers. 

Jamie pushed as much magic into his words as he could whispering protection and safety, happiness, and future. He wasn't as good at is as his mother was he felt strained and inadequate the longer Tyler refused to come any closer. They layed like that for nearly two hours, Jamie rubbing through every song he could remember and going back to repeat a few before Tyler finally crawled out from under the bed into Jamie's chest shivering and shaking from holding himself so scrunched up for so long. Jamie felt nearly just as drained. His power snapping angrily under his skin from being used in a manner it wasn't used to for so long. His mother could keep up vigils over Jamie and Jordie all night long when they were sick as boys or heart broken as teens. His mother's magic had seemed endless then. Bottomless in a way that couldn't be possible. He wondered now how she had done it. If she felt just as drained and exhausted or if Jamie's own power was just so much less then her own.

It didnt matter. What mattered right now was petting Tylers wild fur and whispering how good he was, how proud he was. That he was going to make everything ok.

He 'would' make this ok again.

Even if he had to exorcise a demon to do so.

He was going to need more magic.


	8. Chapter 8

The stars didn’t make it to the finals. Not surprising but still hard to take. Jamie had wanted it. More for Tyler sake then his own as the wolf had come from a team that was a Stanley Cup contender every year and the disappointment of not even making the playoffs had to be hard to take.

What Jamie wanted didn’t seem to matter though because after a season spent trying to help bring Tyler out of his shell the other man had pulled back from everyone after his break down. The change was so drastic even the coaching staff started casually pulling Jamie aside to ask what happened. 

The problem was he didn’t know. Tyler refused to talk about what had happened between him and his Alpha, other than the initial confession that the other man was mad. It wasn’t even two days later though that Tyler quietly sought Jamie out and told him he had been mistaken. It was the stress of his attack that made him think his Alpha was a demon. He had just been a human at the time, he hadn’t known better. He didn’t mean to freak Jamie out and he was sorry and everything was fine now.

He was lying.

Tyler didn’t honestly believe that but that was his story and he was sticking to it doggedly. He stopped coming over to the Benn’s apartment and at first Jamie thought it was to avoid him but Jordie said Tyler was weary to come over even when Jamie wasn’t there. 

Jason had been cut off almost harder then the Benn’s, Tyler going as far as to try and keep a person between them at all times. 

“He’s trying to block me out of his mind.” Jason whined. 

“Because it’s rude as fuck to go digging around in other people’s heads tool bag.” Jordie had snipped back. The bickering had resulted in a bruised rib, a wounded ego, and two days of radio silence between the two D-men. 

Jamie tried to chalk it up to a defense thing but Jordie and Jason seemed to be constantly snipping at each other without the common ‘help Tyler’ goal to distract them. He wasn’t even sure where to begin to try and help them so he just avoided it as much as he could.

It wasn’t until Rich approached Jamie asking after Tyler that Jamie really realized Tyler was cutting himself off from everyone, it wasn’t about just him. The longer the season wore on the more distant Tyler got until they hardly spoke at all. It made something in Jamie ache with regret. Summer was coming though and he couldn't let Tyler leave acting the way he was. 

Jamie’s plan was to go to Tyler’s apartment and find out what exactly was going on but once again Tyler was already one step ahead. 

The wolf opened the door right as Jamie was about to knock looking startled. "Jamie?" He greeted, startled expression quickly shifting to strained as it often had whenever Jamie approached recently. 

"Tyler?" Jamie replied eyes traveling quickly from Tyler’s uncomfortable face to the large suitcase he was dragging behind him. He didn't mean to but his eyes darted past the center to the rest of the apartment and felt fear build in the back of his throat at the sight of the completely empty space. “You’re leaving…like leaving leaving!” he said aloud instantly feeling like an idiot when Tyler winced and nodded. 

“Yeah…my leasing agent said he could find me a house by the start of next season so I just you know. I figured it would be easier to just close up the place now rather than try and do it later.”

Jamie found himself nodding too quickly mind wondering where he had gone wrong, what he could have done differently. “You’re going-” he left it open ended hoping Tyler would fill in the blank.  
Tyler just kinda shrugged not saying anything. 

Jamie felt the back of his throat tighten. “Did I…did I do something wrong?” He asked staring hard at the empty apartment behind Tyler. He felt too big suddenly. Like a bull, all solid sides and wide angles making it impossible for him to maneuver through this situation with any sort of grace. “I just…I thought we-“ 

“I have to go Jamie. I have a cab waiting outside.” Tyler pressed forward forcing Jamie back far enough that he could pull the door closed behind him.

He wasn’t going to cry. He was a grown ass man he wasn’t gonna let frustration drive him to tears. “I’m sorry.” He chocked out throat feeling almost unbearably tight. 

Tyler stopped trying to inch his way around Jamie’s broader form and looked physically pained staring back at Jamie with something like resignation in his own eyes. It happened so quick he almost didn’t realize what was going until Tyler pulled back face flushed and eyes too wide and too shiny.

Jamie’s lips tingled. 

He wanted to push Tyler back against his door and do it again. 

Properly.

He wanted to kiss him until both their lips went numb and his jaw ached and he could describe the exact outline of Tyler’s face from cradling it in his hands. 

“Ty-“

“I thought we were gonna turn out different too.” Tyler cut in making Jamie’s heart sink. The wolf suddenly looked so tired; like the kiss had taken the last bit of fight out of him. “I’ll see you next season Captain.”

He left without another word or even a backwards glance. 

Deep breaths. Jamie told himself forcing the air in his lungs until it burned before letting it back out slowly. His legs felt weak suddenly so he leaned against Tyler’s apartment door and froze. Tentatively he placed his palms on the wood. Nothing. There was not even a hint of his magic left in the empty shell of a home behind him. It should have at the very least hummed against his skin in memory of the amount of charming he had work on the place. Magic had a tendency to stay in woods and walls echoing of old power but the apartment behind him was silent, like it hadn’t ever had a witch set foot in it before.

Tyler had had it purified. 

Apparently it didn't matter that he was a grown ass man Jamie cried anyway. 

 

Jordie had taken up giving him unhappily looks whenever he came back from his nightly trips. They had both gone home to Victoria after the end of the season and Jamie’s ‘breakup’, as Jordie was calling it, with Tyler.

Their family was happy to see them and Jamie was happy to see them too but he had other things on his mind that left him feeling distant and unattached with everyone else around him. There was a place in his brain where a connection had begun to develop. A patchwork of magic and emotion and life that was now severed leaving a void where Jamie would swear he could still feel phantom traces of wolf, and wild. It left him feeling like he was about to miss a step. Like he was leaving his house and he’d forgotten where he was going. 

He often found himself mentally reaching for a bond that wasn’t there. He ached with a lose that hadn’t really even been his to begin with. 

Tyler wasn’t answering his phone. Not for Jamie. And not for Jordie and once desperately Jamie had tried reaching him on his family line with no success. There was a picture on his private instagram, Jamie wasn't stalking per say but he did have a Google alert set for Tylers name and his social media set to tell him if Tyler posted. He only felt slightly crazy when he set it up. In the instagram picture Tyler was laid out on a couch half curled around a body next to him his face pressed mostly into the other bodies pecs. It was captioned ‘when your bae is overworked and needs some #summerlovin #poorbaby #norestforthewicked #layyourwearyhead’ If Jamie hadn’t been positive the other person in the picture was Brownie he would have been pissed. He is adult enough to admit that even if it's just to himself. 

Jamie felt worn out nearly constantly. He was pushing himself. Stretching his magic to the limit and further. He’d passed out twice now in the woods where he practiced but his ability to process more magic was getting better. Far better then he had ever really hoped. He never really pushed with his magic, he took what he had and worked with it content with where he was. But it now just didn’t seem like enough.

His mother sat down at the table where Jamie was currently resting his head trying to convince himself he needed to leave the house and work on his power more. He was getting better, stronger but he was just so tired. He didn’t even think he had enough energy left to brew a decent pot of tea.

The soothing smell of his mother's tea filed his nose followed by the gentle tap of a mug being set on the table next to his head. He rolled his neck to the side to look at it then at her. She was wrapped in her robe, hair slightly flat from the day and had her chin resting on her laced fingers looking at him with a gentle smile. 

“Baby…”she said softly keeping up the hush of the night around them. “what have you been getting yourself into?” Jamie opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. He lifted himself upright enough to sip at his tea and shrugged instead. She smiled a little wider at him. “Jordie tells me it is about a boy.”

Jamie flushed at that. His mother knew his preference but it wasn’t something they ever really talked about. Like ever. Jamie hid his face behind his mug and his mother laughed. “You wanna talk about it?” she asked leaning back in her seat a little pulling her robe tighter around her to ward off the evening chill.

“Not really.” Jamie muttered glancing at his phone he’d abandoned on the counter. He had the urge to look at it but it wouldn't matter. There still wouldn't be any messages from Tyler on it.

“Ahh.”His mother said nodding in her all knowing way. Jamie felt his stomach flip with nerves wondering if she had done a reading on him. His mother was the one who had taught him to read the cards, ‘steady hands Jamie.’ she would whisper to him when he was a boy and he shook every time he tried to see the future. ‘don’t let the power of the cards scare you. You’re the one who makes the story baby, the cards are just a guide to help you on your way.’ “He’s got you love sick doesn't he.” 

Jamie jerked at that looking up wide eyed at his mom who just grinned back at him like she hadn’t just rocked his world. Love sick. He had never thought the word love and Tyler in the same sentence but now that he had he wondered why he hadn’t in the first place. “You’ve seen this?” he asked setting his mug back on the table afraid he would drop it if he didn't. His arms suddenly felt like jello. 

“A mother doesn't need to use magic to know her son. “ She teased sipping at her own tea. “I can see it in your eyes. I’ve seen love sickness before, gets you all tangled up inside just like it's got you now. It’s alright. You will figure it all out.”

Jamie nodded absently at that and looked at his phone again still silent across the room. “I think I'm going to go on a trip.” He said looking back at his mom who was watching him with her all knowing eyes. Would he ever have eyes like that? Or was it a mother thing?

“A trip to the forest again? If you ask the earth for much more power she is going to start getting cranky with you.” Jamie laughed at that, he couldn't hide shit from his mom. “No, to see a friend. I should be back in a day or two…I asked to borrow some of his notes and he won't send them to me so I have to go there to see them.” He explained standing up and grabbing his phone to look up ticket prices. 

“Jamie…” The way she said his name made him pause and look back over his shoulder. She looked serious for the first time the whole conversation. “Be careful with old magic. I don't know why you’re looking into it and exploration of your power is a good thing but…there is a reason people stopped the old practices just remember that.”

“How did you-“

“There are old things on your alter.” She cut in looking at him seriously. “Markings I haven't seen since my great grandfather... You need to join a coven.”

“Oh mom!” Jamie sighed rolling his eyes and walking over to give her a hug. “It’s just idle interest. I’m not getting myself into anything serious I promise. I have you and Jordie and Jenny and dad anyway. I don't need a coven. I’m fine. I promise.”

His mom hugged him tight and kissed the top of his head making him feel like he was four again. “Alright.” She conceded patting his back once more and letting go. “If you say so but if I see one spark of old magic come out of you your going to my Coven circle next Wednesday no debating about it. I'm not gonna have that archaic bullshit in my house you hear me!” she hollered after him as he ran up the stairs two at a time to go pack his bags. 

“I hear you!” He shouted back with a laugh making her laugh in return. The quiet of the night was gone and so was Jamie’s bad mood. He had things to take care of and he had put them off long enough. A quick text confirmed that he was still welcome to come visit so he threw his bag together and grabbed an evening ticket off Travelocity. With any luck he would be gone before Jordie and Jenny got home and started asking questions.

It took nearly all day for him to catch three connecting flights with a overnight layover in Seattle before landing in Chicago and taking a cab to Jonathans place. He turned his phone off hiding from Jordie's angry texts before giving in and turning it back on in case Tyler tried to reach him. 

Jonathan Toews look pissed when he jerked his door open but his face lightened when he saw who it was. “Jamie…Jesus when you said you were coming today I thought you meant like….later.” 

Jamie gave an awkward one shouldered shrug and rubbed at the back of his head while Jonathan rubbed his eyes. “Ah sorry. I probably should have…waited…until after 9 or something.”

“Its 7 in the morning!” The Blackhawks captain sounded like a toddler as he let Jamie into his condo and started the coffee maker. He was in a pair of sleep pants and a rumpled Blackhawks shirt obviously just having climbed out of bed. 

“Sorry?” he tried feeling a little at a loss. Was morning practice not a thing in Chicago . Shouldn’t he be used to early mornings. 

Jonathan waved him off pulling down two mugs. “So you wanted to talk to me about something?” 

“Yeah…yeah I have some questions and your knowledge of ley line magic is more then mine so… I wanted to draw something for you and see if you agree with me on it or if I need to change a few things to make it work. Can I put a circle on your floor?”

Jonathan shrugged pouring himself a cup of coffee and then a second but didn’t offer it to Jamie as he tapped his toe against hard wood of his hallway. “A line runs through the hall if you’re going for power that's the place to do it.”

Jamie nodded dropping his bag on a kitchen chair before fishing out his chalk and getting to work. Jonathan took a seat just sipping his coffee as he woke up slowly, leaving the other cup that he had mixed with heavy cream and light sugar on the counter. 

It wasn’t until Jamie had finished sitting back on his heels arms aching from the power he had put into his chalk that the Blackhawks captain stood back up. His normally dead eyes looked surprised. He walked carefully around the circle before looking at Jamie with a hard frown. “Where did you see this before?” 

“I’ve been doing some research-“ Jamie started and Jonathan shook his head looking mildly concerned now. 

“This is old stuff Jamie. You’re family doesn’t work with this kind of magic. You’re a clairvoyant, your brother is a kitchen witch, this isn’t something you should ever have stumbled across doing research for the magic you practice!” 

“Would it work?” Jamie asked softly. Jonathans dark eyes flicked back over the circle on the floor. It was said the reason Jonathan Toews eyes looked dead was because he had seen the other side. That he had actually traveled the ley line and saw another world but the cost was his soul. Jamie didn’t believe that, mostly; there was no denying that Jonathans eyes were intimidating but it wasn’t do to magic, probably. Ley line magic just frightened most people. It didn't seem natural, the power in it was too much.

Jonathan looked back at Jamie running a hand through his sleep messy hair and then down his face like he forgot he didn't have a playoff beard there to touch any more. “Hypothetically…yes, but that's just hypothetical Jamie. This is older magic than even I mess with. I have no need to. I mean I know I practice older magic than most but I have no need of a demon trap. No one does.”

“A trap?” Jamie asked surprised. “I thought this was to banish demons.”

Jonathans dark dark eyes cut back over to Jamie looking slightly angry now. “No this is to trap not to banish. You can double up and put a banishment on it but….hypothetically, if you got a demon in the trap you would still need to activate the banishment. Its dangerous and lots of people died trying. Demons didn't just leave even when banished they had to much power of their own grounding them to this plane….is there something going on I should know about?” he asked carefully.

“I think…”Jamie started before stopping and standing upright to pace a little. “I don't think it's true but I’ve heard rumor that there is a Demon on this plane.”

“That's not possible.” Jonathan said shaking his head. “You know that's not possible.”

“I know!” Jamie snapped back crossing his arms over his chest and chewing at the inside of his lip. “but he told me some things that made me nervous...that are making me second guess. I just…It’s…I think one of your people isn’t what he says he his.”

Silence fell over the room and Jamie was afraid to look back at the other captain. He thought he would feel better saying it out loud but the low level nervousness he’d been carrying around since he’d looked at Tyler’s phone just intensified making his chest feel tight. He turned around looking at Jonathan and felt his nervousness skyrocket. The other captain looked pissed.

“Get out of my house.”

“Jonathan-“ Jamie tried only to be shoved. He took two stumbling steps back shocked.

“You come into my house! Accuse one of my pack mates of being a demon! Are you insane! Get out!”

“Jonny? What’s with all the yelling man its like ass o’clock in the morning.”

A sleep soft Patrick Kane stood barefoot in only a too big t-shirt for a collage hockey team he never played for and boxers. A fresh hickey was sitting high up on the inside of one thigh. Jonathan flushed red embarrassed and Jamie flushed red horrified. Patrick blinked at them with big baby blues rubbing one eye to try and get the sleep out of it. His hair was a mess, mullet gone but curls still untameable. Jamie thought for a wild moment he might be sick. 

“I didn’t know anyone was here.” Patrick added looking at Jamie with surprise but not anger or fear or anything else he might have expected.

“He was just leaving.” Jonathan snapped giving Jamie’s shoulder a not so gentle nudge towards the door. “Your coffee is on the counter, I will be right back Jamie and I are just going to have a little talk real quick.”

Patrick gave Jamie a confused smile but waved good bye. “ok…hey Jonny what is this?” He asked making the other man pause in trying to shove Jamie out the door.

They both looked back other their shoulder and watched Patrick walk the inside of Jamie’s circle. “Some kind of…trick or something? Are you working on a spell and I walked in it or something? This...isn’t really funny…” The longer he talked the more urgent his voice was sounding. “Jonny!” The name was said breathy and panicked his big eyes looked up and met Jon’s, he was looking like he was at the edge of a freak out. “Let me out”

“Holy shit.” Jonathan said arms going limp where he was trying to shove Jamie out the door letting the other witch slip back into the apartment.

“You can't get out?” Jamie asked. Patrick shook his head fast and started to take shallow breaths. “I’m not really a huge fan of small spaces though so if you could-“

“Show me your real form.”

“The fuck are you talking about?” Kane snapped, he was starting to look a little wild around the eyes, the realization that he was trapped setting in. “Jonny, let me out!”

Jamie felt power humming under his skin and forced it into his circle. “Show me your real form!” 

Patrick jerked like he’d been shocked and gasped for breath falling to his knees. “What are you doing to me?” He asked. He looked up at Jamie with fear written across his face. 

Jamie almost stopped, Patrick looked so afraid, so human but he thought of Tyler. Sweet Tyler who wanted nothing more than to be normal again and couldn’t even build his pack because of his own terror caused by the man on his knees before him.

“SHOW ME!” He yelled forcing as much power as he could into the command. Patrick jerked and chocked. He scratched at his own throat like he couldn't breathe.

“Stop!” Jonathan yelled. “Stop it you're killing him!” The whites of Patrick’s eyes disappeared behind a wave of black that crept in like poison, His teeth sharpened in his gaping mouth like razors before corner of his mouth split to wide showing off animal like fangs going further back. It was a mouth designed for devouring. 

The room went quiet the only sound Patrick’s soft crying. His body twitched now and again like he was still feeling like jolts from Jamie’s magic trying to force his body to shift. 

“Jonny…”He whined. His voice sounded wrong. Still his but…older rougher almost layered, like it wasn’t used to being used and it couldn't yet reach all of its depth. “It’s not what you think.”

“Oh babe…” Jonathan looked like he might be ill. The center had a hand over his mouth and his eyes were wide. Jamie didn't blame him, it wasn't every day you found out your partner was an imposter.

“What's your name?” Jamie asked. The demon didn't look at him, his arm was outstretched towards Jonathan begging the other man to help him. It was to late though. There was no going back, no hiding what he was now. “Patrick Timothy Kane.” He answered.

“Your real name.” Jamie demanded. His palms were sweating, he wasn’t prepared to banish the Demon today. He wasn’t rested enough, he needed to be out nature to get his full power behind him. 

Black eyes swung to Jamie looking agitated. The blue of his iris looked startling swimming in all that blackness. “My real name is Patrick Timothy Kane, boy! You have no idea what you're doing.” He snarled. “Let. Me. Out.”

Jamie opened his mouth when a howl echoed from outside making them all freeze. 

“To late now.” Patrick snarled at him looking almost gleeful. “My wolf is here.”


End file.
